Let It Go
Imagine having to forgive the same person for committing a serious offense against you again and again! Would you think it’s fair? Would you find it easy to do so? Probably not.
But this is exactly what Jesus tells us to do. “If your brother trespasses against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day turns to you saying I repent, you shall forgive him”. That does not seem right—forgiving a person who keeps hurting me over and over again, especially when his repeated behavior proves he is not really repentant, even though his mouth says so.
When someone does something to hurt you, something on the inside of you may want to hurt him back. Your sense of justice might demand that you do something to get even. You may feel it is just not right to let your offender “get away” with this type of behavior. And as a result you may nurse a grudge for years and become bitter in the process.
But Jesus says you should not handle offenses in that manner. Instead, He insists you choose forgiveness over anger and resentment, even if the offender has not demonstrated genuine remorse. Why?
Because forgiving those who have offended you will set you free! That’s right, the principal beneficiary of your decision to forgive will be you. And that is true because the one who suffers most from unforgiveness will always be the one who carries bitterness in his bosom.
Nelson Mandella is famous for choosing to extend forgiveness to those who abused and imprisoned him unjustly. Listen to his words: “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for it to kill your enemy”.
Author Lewis Smedes writes: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
When you forgive someone from the heart, you set yourself free from the unhealthy hold they had on you and you take away their power to hurt you.
Forgiveness is hard, but living with a grudge is even harder. Keeping grudges bottled up can be very dangerous, and can hurt you in ways you might have not imagined. When you understand how harmful unforgiveness is to you, you will realize that choosing to release an offender is primarily for your benefit, not theirs.
Let it go.
Blessings,
Bishop Johnson
A Moment of Grace 
thank u bishop
O God, i thank you for my Bishop, He has open my eyes in another dimention of forgiveness. God continue to give him wisdom, knowledge and understanding to open our eyes more in Jesus name.
Now i know i can excuse when it is necessary and forgive when it calls for forgiveness as i now know the difference between to Excuse and to Forgive.
Thanks Bishop
God Bless you
Your daughter
Precious H.N. Jackson.
I needed to read this, it was great! “When you forgive someone from the heart, you set yourself free from the unhealthy hold they had on you and you take away their power to hurt you.” Forgiveness is hard, but worth it.
I learned to be specific and direct with God about how I felt about the situation I was facing, and acknowledged that unforgiveness was a sin. I also learned to lay down my anger towards that person by forgiving them. I felt unless I dealt with that resentment towards that person at that moment, I was leaving room to allow bitterness to re-enter my life later on. Thanks for the post Bishop.