| Picture Credit: healthyforgiving.com |
The word "offense" was coined from the Greek word "skandalizein", and the Latin word "scandalum" from where the word "Scandal" originated.
The word was used to describe "a mouse trap with a springing device" especially the part with the spring that usually traps the mouse once it goes off. It was usually said to have "OFF" "ENDED" (i.e. severed the head of the mouse from the body) . In the New Testament, it was used metaphorically as "a stumbling block, offense or snare laid for an enemy." Nothing could be farther from the truth. An offense or a grudge is a spiritually scandalous thing. It spreads negative information (scandal )about you in the enemy's camp and alerts them that you are GUILTY, and consequently, you are vulnerable and defenseless, and if you still do not forgive, it OFF - ENDS your destiny.
Hannah More once wrote : "Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits".
Ron Rose was preparing for a sermon in his office when a woman walked in to complain abouthow Ron's sermons were always about forgiveness and grace. She said he needed to come down harder on the sinners, and in her words, "nail them."
After her rant, Ron asked, "So, you’ve got forgiveness and grace all worked out in your own life?"
"Well, Ron" she replied, "there are some things you can’t turn loose of, things that don’t deserve grace, or forgiveness. That’s just the way it is. I know it’s that way in my family."
She leaned over his desk and revealed a heart hardened by resentment and bitterness, "No, forgiveness is not an option. I’ve been hurt too much."
The grudge was too embedded. And she was powerless and trapped in the wilderness. Lack of forgiveness had turned her into a critical, judgmental woman.
Ron went on to say "She wanted me to make everyone else as miserable as she was."
A teacher once told each of her students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to school. They were instructed to call to mind every person they had a grudge against. For every person they refused to forgive, they chose a potato, wrote on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. They were told to carry this bag with them everywhere, putting it beside their bed at night, on the car seat when driving, on their lap when riding, next to their desk during classes. Some bags became quite heavy. Lugging this around, paying attention to it all the time, and remembering not to leave it in embarrassing places was a hassle. Over time the potatoes became moldy, smelly, and began to sprout "eyes." To bear grudges is to stink.
Often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, but it clearly is a gift to ourselves.
To forgive is to set a prisoner free only to discover that that prisoner was you.
LOVE KEEPS NO SCORE OF THE SINS OF OTHERS
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