Finding Freedom in Forgiveness

First of all, Stacey, I’d like to thank you for letting me visit today.

What’s one thing all mankind seeks? Freedom.

Several years ago, my husband and I began attending a large church not too far from us. Over the years we’d heard people talk about the inspiring sermons the pastor there would preach. I’d come to work on Monday morning, and several of my co-workers would be discussing the Sunday sermon delivered by their pastor, Buddy Hoffman. So when the time came for us to change churches, we knew exactly where we wanted to go.

Buddy was unlike any pastor I had ever heard. He had a folksy manner, and he loved tripping all over the English language. Once he told us about his recent mission trip to Asia where he saw Kubotas (i.e. pagodas) dotting the landscape. All I could picture was a hill covered with riding mowers and tractors.

One Sunday morning, he was preaching about forgiveness. Ten years later, I don’t remember the scriptures he chose or the major points of the sermon. I remember only one statement he made. “Unforgiveness is a prison.” My English-major self tensed, knowing unforgiveness wasn’t even a word. It was what my husband and I called a Buddy-ism. But it didn’t matter that it wasn’t listed in the dictionary, that spell-check would underline it. That brief statement carried a depth of meaning that entire books might not.

It’s not easy

I truly believe one of the hardest things God asks us, as Christians, to do is to forgive. Anyone who’s ever parented children knows forgiveness doesn’t come naturally. It’s often easy to forgive the penitent, but forgiving someone who’s not sorry, who doesn’t care? That can be tough. It’s sometimes easier to push the wrong aside. Try to forget it and go on with life. But forgiveness is active. It’s not enough to simply push the wrong way down into your heart rather than dealing with it.

As humans, we often seek justice instead of grace. If someone has hurt us, our carnal selves can want them to be hurt––to feel the pain we felt. And the unwillingness to forgive becomes a prison. True freedom is found in only one place.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13

No Longer Captive

In No Longer a Captive, Ethne is trapped in a prison of “unforgiveness.” She’s spent most of her life running away from the pain her father’s behavior caused, searching for peace through forgetting. But the only way she can find peace in her life is to come to terms with the hurt her father caused in her life. To forgive him as she has been forgiven.