Dear Beloved Beach Church Believers And Beyond,
Unforgiveness isn’t just a sin; it’s a prison cell where you hold the key but refuse to turn it. For years, I carried bitterness like a heavy stone, thinking it protected me. But it only kept me trapped.
Today’s Daily Redemption reveals how Jesus doesn’t just command us to forgive—He gives us the power to let go. He can break the chains that trauma forged.
Featured Scripture and Commentary
Matthew 6:14–15 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
What kind of affrontery digs deepest under your skin and is most difficult to extract for purposes of forgiveness? I can say that for me, the very worst is “ghosting” or just in the actual world, walking away and refusing to communicate. Where is the hope of any resolution if you can’t get the other person to the table. That happens to be the first go to for me when I am engaged in enmity with a brother or sister. I claim I have forgiven them but they are dangerous to me and it is not a requirement that I like everybody or engage with anybody even while I must follow the commandment to love my neighbor as myself.
Loving your neighbor as yourself is also much easier if you are first loving the Lord with all ya got. The more godly you are in focus of mind, heart and soul more ducky you are (as in water off a duck’s back).
Did you know that you may not take of the Eucharist in Communion if you are holding anything against a brother or sister? It actually works as more of a curse against you if you do so. It also ruins the integrity (wholeness) of the congregation. If you look at the text of the scripture quotations included for today then you will see this clearly without further explanation. I have that much faith in you.
Both of these are true: The Lord’s Prayer as we have come to call it definitely says forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. So, it is a given. If we are here in the Lord at all, if we seek access and relationship with the Father then we must forgive others.
The other is that we love Jesus because He first loved us. No requirements of us in that love. He died for us and as he hung there in anguished suffering He wasn’t thinking “I forgive everybody everything, I accept you just as you are and I pay in full for all transgressions – except that one guy in Virginia Beach – I just can’t forgive that. Nope. He forgave all of us for all of it, knowing the end from the beginning as the Alpha and Omega and knowing all of our sins long before He knit us together in our mother’s womb.
So why are both of these true? Out of sheer necessity for one thing. He knew that there was no way we would even remotely be able to worship and glorify God including forgiving God, ourselves, our siblings (natural and extended) if we didn’t have His love in our hearts.
So do you really want to feel and allow the direction of the Holy Spirit to commandeer your spirit so as to magnify and glorify the Lord? Do you really want to earn your salvation? Well, you can’t. (It is by grace through faith, an undeserved gift, nothing we might do to change that) But James does say faith without works is dead. Do you want to measure up as best you can to just living the truth of what it means to be a new creature in Christ (Galations 2:20) then you need to get really really good at forgiving. Paul who suffered for his faith as much as anybody this side of Jesus relished being insulted and all the rest of it because those opportunities to forgive in his weakness offered God the chance to demonstrate His strength through him (Paul).
So ye and we who seek to be godly cultivate forgiveness. Those are works which the Lord smiles upon.
CORROBORATING LIFE-CHANGING SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 4:31–32, Hebrews 12:15, Mark 11:25, Luke 6:37, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 18:21–22, Acts 7:60, Romans 12:19
Ephesians 4:31–32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Matthew 18:21–22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Acts 7:60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
TODAY’s BIBLICAL MORALITY PLAY: Unforgiveness is a thief
that steals your peace, your health, and your intimacy with God. It is not a feeling; it is a choice to hold onto a debt that Jesus has already paid.
Many of us think forgiveness means saying what happened was okay. It doesn’t. It means releasing the right to punish. It means handing the gavel back to God.
One believer shared: “I held onto bitterness for ten years. I thought it made me strong. But I was exhausted. My chest hurt. My sleep was broken. Then I read Ephesians 4:31: ‘Get rid of all bitterness.’ I realized I wasn’t protecting myself; I was poisoning myself. When I finally said, ‘God, I release him to You,’ the physical weight lifted. I could breathe again.”
This is the trap: We think unforgiveness protects us from being hurt again. But it only keeps us in the past. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the prison door. You don’t have to stay there.
PRAYER FOR WHOMSOEVERS
Lord, thank You for forgiving me when I was still a sinner. Help me to extend that same grace to those who have hurt me. I release [Name/Situation] to You. I choose to forgive, not because they deserve it, but because You have commanded it and empowered me to do it. Break every chain of bitterness in my heart. Grant me Your peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
