THE FREEDOM THAT FORGIVES

By: Pastor Flávio Macieira - 2025

Day 2 of the "Imperfect Love: Grace for the Relationships That Wear Us Out" series.

Imagine someone has hurt you deeply, and in your anger, you decide to get revenge. But your revenge is strange: every day, you take a small vial of poison and drink a drop, hoping that somehow, the other person will die. Absurd, isn't it? But this is exactly what we do when we refuse to forgive. Bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness—they are a poison we drink daily, hoping it will harm the other person, but in the end, it only destroys us from the inside out.

The world's culture tells us that forgiveness is a sign of weakness, that it's "letting the other person get away with it." But God's wisdom shows us that forgiveness is not primarily for the other person; it is an act of freedom for ourselves. It is the antidote that keeps us from dying of poison.

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32 (NLT)

The Apostle Paul gives us the secret and the strength for forgiveness in a single sentence. He doesn't say, "forgive because the other person deserves it" or "forgive when you feel like it." He anchors our horizontal forgiveness (to one another) in our vertical forgiveness (from God to us). The standard is: "forgive just as God through Christ has forgiven you." Forgiveness is not a feeling we must manufacture; it is a decision of obedience we make in response to a grace we have already received.

When a debtor who has had a million-dollar debt forgiven meets a colleague who owes him ten dollars, he has two options: he can grab the colleague by the collar and demand payment, or he can remember the mercy he received and extend it forward. We are the million-dollar debtor. Our debt of sin against a holy God was unpayable, and in Christ, it was completely canceled. How, then, can we refuse to forgive the "ten-dollar" debt someone owes us?

To forgive does not mean to forget the pain, nor does it necessarily mean to restore trust immediately. To forgive is to cancel the debt. It is to make the decision to no longer carry the offense, to no longer drink the poison of bitterness. It is an act of freedom, where we choose to live in the same grace that has set us free.

Your Next Step of Faith: Today's step of faith is an act of debt cancellation. Think of one person who has hurt you and whose forgiveness you have been withholding. Take your journal. On a sheet of paper, write the person's name and the offense. Then, pray, and as an act of obedience to God, write over their name the words: "In Christ, the debt is canceled." Afterward, tear up that paper as a symbol that you will no longer carry it. You are releasing the judgment to God.

The Soul Mirror:

1. Does forgiving feel more like weakness or freedom to you? Why?

2. Is there a "debt" you refuse to cancel because you feel the person "doesn't deserve it"?

3. How can meditating on the enormity of God's forgiveness for you in Christ soften your heart toward the one who hurt you?

Let's seek the Lord for the strength to forgive.

Father, I confess that my heart is heavy with the poison of unforgiveness. I have been holding onto resentment and bitterness, and it is destroying me. Thank you for forgiving me of a debt I could never repay. Your grace to me is overwhelming. Today, in obedience and gratitude, I choose to forgive [mention the person in your heart]. I cancel the debt. Free me from the chains of bitterness and fill me with the freedom and peace that come from living in Your forgiveness. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Holding a grudge is chaining yourself to an enemy. Forgiving is taking the key and walking away.

Did this message speak to you? ✨

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