Colossians 3:13b - “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” There are many reasons why it’s a good idea to forgive others for the hurt which they’ve caused us. Number one among them is that God commands it and His commands are always for our good. Always. But here is a reason you may not have thought about. By holding onto unforgiveness we are giving power to the very people who hurt us. Think about it. Every time we replay in our minds the episodes of our offenders hurting us we get angry all over again. Our thoughts fuel our feelings and before long bitterness is strangling our hearts again. This, of course, negatively affects our daily attitudes, our stress levels, our interactions with those we love, our walk with God, and even squelches our hope for the future. In effect we are handing this power to those who hurt us. That’s a lot of power. But here is the truth. They aren’t the ones in control of our future - God is. They don’t have the final say on what our lives can become - God does. The only influence past hurts and the people who caused them have over us now is what we ourselves give them. And its forgiveness that breaks that power - that stops the movie in our head of what has happened to us. Forgiveness changes the script and allows God to speak healing to our hearts. Now, it's really important to realize in forgiveness what God is not asking us to do. He is not asking us to minimize, ignore, bury, or to deny the hurt that was done to us. He is simply asking us to turn the offense over to Him and to let Him judge and avenge justly. He is way better at it than us. So if today you find yourself struggling to forgive (and we will all find ourselves there at some point), think about how crazy it is to continue to give power to the people who hurt you. You don’t have to anymore. Choose to obey God. Choose to forgive. He will help you. He will hold you. And He will do right by you. There is freedom in forgiveness.