When someone hurts us, or slanders our good name, forgiveness is often something most of us have a very hard time doing. In fact it is often the last thing on our mind. But if we choose to buck the trend and forgive those who have hurt us and follow closely the advice from this timeless book – the Bible – we will see a revolution in our lives that will generate unspeakable joy and a peace that passes all understanding. Sadly, for those who choose the route of not forgiving those who hurt them a host of negative emotions and health issues are sure to follow.
To see the relationship between following biblical principles and our thought lives, let’s consider this concept of forgiveness in more detail. (Matthew 5:44) gives us a mini sermon on this thought of forgiveness. For it states: “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
If you mention this advice to non-Christians most will either say that you are a jerk to believe this or at best a fool. But God wisely gives us this thought prescription because He knows that those who really practice it, will experience a dynamic surge of positive well-being. Forgiving those who have wronged us, no matter how deeply it hurt us, has a wonderful way of freeing us completely from the bondage that an unforgiving heart can place us under.
A good way to view the actual dynamics of what an unforgiving spirit, and its companion thought of bitterness, can do to us is to actually travel into the world of a living thought. If we could actually journey into a thought, we would find that every one of them carries either positive or negative energy. And these unforgiving thoughts are negatively charged and are transmitted, by the brain, throughout the entire body reaching trillions of cells in a matter of seconds.
This great cell disrupter over days, months, and years is electrocuting in a sense all of your bodily systems. Not only that, if we are not careful, this negatively charged energy will literally blast holes in our stomachs, colons and intestines, bring massive ruptures to our arteries, and in some cases cause our hearts to beat no more.
Harboring bitterness, which often is the flipside of an unforgiving heart, towards others places our entire body in a very stressful position. First, our minds become preoccupied with totally unprofitable thought patterns. Second, our bodies must now act as giant human toxic dumps to contain the rapid release of the negative chemicals being poured into them through our brain’s commands in response to these thoughts. And finally, for millions of people these thoughts of bitterness and hatred have transformed themselves into acts of child abuse, wife beatings, and even murder!
What we really must come to grips with is not an unforgiving heart but an unforgiving thought. God’s word is so incredibly logical and wise and everything it says is for our benefit. When we forgive others, it’s like having a heavy burden totally lifted from our backs. God really wants us to give Him all of our burdens because He alone is fully equipped to handle them; while we are just the opposite.
When it comes to the whole area of having a forgiving heart (thought), God tells us simply: “…Vengeance is Mine…” (Romans 12:19). When we turn these negative emotions over to God and let Him handle the whole vengeance question our load becomes instantly lighter. And if we substitute forgiving, loving, and prayerful thoughts towards those who have hurt us I believe we would see such a surge of positive energy pulsating throughout our bodies, that there would be little room left to house the negative thoughts we so often dwell upon.
If I may throw out one last thought it would be this: The greatest thing we can do to foster a positive mental state of mind is to be: “…taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:5).