Forgiveness – A Powerful Tool

Genesis 45:4-5, 7-8a – “And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. … And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: …”

  If anybody had a human right to exact vengeance upon others you would think it would have been Joseph. Sold by his brothers as a slave, lied about by Potiphar’s wife, and forgotten by two prison inmates who he had helped. When he came to power under Pharaoh he could have had all these people pay for wronging him. Instead we never find any vengeance enacted at all upon any of these people.

  Sure he put his brothers through a little testing period to see if their heart had changed at all toward others, but in the end he supplied their every need and nourished them.

  Joseph carried out the act of forgiveness better than anybody we know except Jesus Christ Himself. Because of this he was elevated to a position of power, was able to carry out his administrative duties without distraction, and lived to a ripe old age.

  What we often forget is that forgiveness is one of the greatest healers and most powerful tools in this world. If we refuse to forgive we will do nothing but destroy our very own life. We will constantly be looking to the past, rehearsing all the bad that has happen to us, and miss the good opportunities we have before us right now. We will always be looking for the opportunity to get back rather than looking for the opportunity to do well. Such a life will never get us ahead and never be successful.

  Bitterness will build up and kill us physically as well. It is amazing the amount of health problems there are in this world due to stress, anxiety, and bitterness. Most of which could be eliminated if we simply forgave and forgot that which was done unto us. Bitterness is a solution that will destroy the container in which it is carried. You simply have to come to the reality of life and see that it is not so much about what is done to us, but rather about how we react to that which is done to us. I cannot control what others do to me, but I can control how I react to what others do to me.

  It would simply be better if we left the past in the past and pressed toward the future. That is why I love Philippians 3:13-14.

Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

  May I encourage you to forgive and forget? It will be the greatest healer you could ever take, and it will be one of the greatest actions you could ever do to ensure a bright future.