Shocking Revenge Obituaries and 5 Reasons to Forgive TODAY!

3. When you forgive, you are blessed.

There’s a lie we often believe: that if we forgive someone, then we are committing an injustice by letting them get away with their wrongdoing. There’s also a truth we need to continually remind ourselves of: that when we forgive we aren’t allowing someone to get away with anything but we are allowing ourselves to get away from everything.

When we forgive, we leave the field of battle where all the bleeding is happening. We stop focusing on winning and start focusing on living. And that brings us an incredible richness of blessing.

Are you experiencing the physical blessings of forgiveness? Forgiveness has the potential to lower stress, improve blood pressure, give more restful sleep, and bestow overall healing as we transfer our burdens to God. Unforgiveness causes the pain of the past to live with us in the present and haunt us in the future. Our body isn’t built for that constant stress.

Are you experiencing the emotional blessings of forgiveness? Unburdening ourselves of past pain invites joy back into our present and lets us get on with our future. Bitter people are never joyful people with hope for their future, because they are burdened people obsessed with their painful past.

Are you experiencing the mental blessing of forgiveness? You can stop manically replaying past hurts and center our mind on God, life, and a better future. Paul says it this way in Philippians 3:13: “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead….”

Are you experiencing the relational blessing of forgiveness? Forgiveness lets us emerge from isolation, heal up, experience peace, and start pursuing relationships again. Forgiveness allows us to stop wasting our energy on the worst people in our past and give it to the best people in our present and future.

Are you experiencing the spiritual blessing of forgiveness? It allows us to escape the bitter spirit that keeps us distant from God. Bitter people are so close to their pain that they’re no longer close to their God.