Letting go …

By Jennifer Moreno and Jeremiah Model

Letting go is not easy. We all deal with this struggle of letting go of pains, regrets, abuse, scars, sorrows and anger. Some people release pent up emotions on other people, like the saying goes, hurt people hurt people.

But how do we truly let go when we feel we’ve been hurt so bad that there is no room for forgiveness? Is it worth not forgiving? What are the consequences of not forgiving and releasing? And who is truly getting hurt here in the end?

Colossians 3:13 says “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Forgiving allows us to set the captive free and to free ourselves. Sometimes people say ‘forgive, but don’t forget,’ but that really doesn’t solve the problem. If we replay in our minds the hurt, we will once again open that door to bitterness.

Maya Angelou once said “you can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentally. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.”

Forgiving as Maya says should come from the heart because if you let the hurt fester, it can grow into a kingdom.

One way to evaluate your heart is to compare it to the verse in Luke 6:45 which says ” The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright, and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.

So what this scripture is saying is that whatever you harbor inside your heart it comes out one way or another.

How are you letting it go? What is your release? Our release is the cross, we look towards Jesus and we release all of our burdens unto him. But you ask how are we so sure that we can release our burdens to the cross? Isaiah 53:4 says “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,” and it continues on to say ” but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Mathew 6:15 says “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

It is important to understand what this verse is saying, your Father forgave you for your sins, your wrongs, your iniquities, your injustice, then why would you not forgive someone who has wronged you? What is holding you back? What files are you holding on people? What viruses are in your system that you need to terminate?

Will you allow yourself to experience freedom by forgiving?