It’s time to let it go.

How do you forgive someone? Is it enough to mumble the words and avoid looking into their eyes? Is it really forgiveness if you are still angry in your heart? Is it really forgiveness if you say you forgive, but bring up the issue again in the future?

You see where I’m going here. If you can’t forgive and forget, then you haven’t really forgiven at all. Now, you won’t really forget, because something happened and it was upsetting, but when you truly forgive, you have to let go of the offense. You have to love back. Yep, we are people of love. Our response is to forgive and give the issue to God to work out.

When you hand over the situation to God, He will be on your side. If you’ve been robbed blind, you can’t hold onto ugly emotions. When you forgive, God will be your advocate, and you can’t get any better than that.

This is not an option. You don’t get to choose who you forgive and who you don’t. If you don’t forgive others, then God doesn’t have to forgive you! (Mark 11: 26) That’s serious stuff. Be real about it. It’s not always going to be easy, but that’s why you have the Spirit of God to help you. Give it over to Jesus and forgive every time. It’s the right thing to do.