Jesus. So there’s more than enough of His forgiveness
splashing around you to extinguish all the flames of rage,
hatred, bitterness, or animosity your enemy may have ignited
within you. Remembering what Christ’s redemption has done
for you will make you eager to do it for another.
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins... but God,
being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us... made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1, 4–5).
Start from that point, and then you can much more
determinedly give mercy to others because it’s so lavishly
given to you.
Genuine freedom and renewed fervency are waiting for you
on the other side of forgiveness. And the forgiveness you
don’t have any desire to give right now can be amazingly
enabled through prayer. When galvanized with the living truth
of God’s Word, fervent prayer is the bucket that can dip down
into the reserves of God’s strength and pull up all the resolve
you need for releasing other people from what they owe you.
He can produce the healing we so desperately need, before we
continue down these same old broken roads that only end up
hurting other people—children, grandchildren, people who had