Carolyn Miller stated that “Unforgiveness is a poison that shrivels the heart. It means a person cannot truly live in the present as they're always thinking about the past.” For family life to thrive we must be fully enjoying the present. In family life there will always be many opportunities to let go and forgive. Common ones are breaking trust, violation of boundaries, emotional and sexual abuse, bullying, favouritism, financial neglect and emotional distance. Sometimes it is in simple everyday matters where we have to learn to forgive; unresponsiveness to texts or calls for dinnertime, a spouse who is consistently late for dates or church, our loved ones forgetting what our preferences are with regards to food or movies, and the list goes on. Have you ever wondered why some people struggle with letting go more than others? In this message I will suggest things you can do to make letting go easier. I don’t want to minimize your pain, but my aim is to show you practical things you can embrace that make forgiving family members a little easier. First make a decision to forgive, and then see the rest as a process. You will have to choose to let go on a daily basis. There will always be opportunities to take offence, but keep choosing to let go. Forgiving and letting go does not excuse the behaviour of the perpetrator, but let’s make sure that even when we cry out for personal and social justice, we do so from a pure heart. In the words of Wayne Gerard Trotman, “Cries for justice are often the bitter laments of the vengeful.” My primary focus in this message is the state of your heart. This is not a message about those that are hurting you, rather the essence of this sermon is, “How do I make sure I am not controlled negatively and ultimately destroyed by my immature, infantile, and fleshly reactions to my pain?”
