Gabe continued our series this week, where we dug deep into the root of what made Joseph so promotable by God. We see in Genesis 45:1-25 how God sent Joseph ahead of his family to preserve them.
From his humble attitude in revealing his identity and the truth to his brothers, we see that instead of the revenge and punishment they were expecting, Joseph chose to forgive them for what they had done to him and even blessed them!
We were reminded of the number one thing that Satan uses to steal our peace, our joy and our encounters with the grace of God is unforgiveness. Small offences, if left untreated, grow into bitterness and have devastating, deadly and destructive consequences.
When we choose not to forgive, it is like drinking poison, yet hoping the other person will die, or, like a toddler’s soiled nappy that we don’t change. No matter how hard we try to mask the odour or cover it up, the stench will always find a way to escape and the same applies to our lives.
There are 3 things that unforgiveness and bitterness do to us:
- Deceives us – Your heart will always deceive you where your lens goes askew and you cannot see God’s grace. Unresolved wounds are the breeding ground of offences. Mathew 7:15 warns us that it is the wolfs in sheep’s clothing we must beware of, which means that the false prophets are not always from the pulpit, but from within the flock
- Deadens us – When the offences grow and fester, it seeps into our soul and poisons us and our love for Jesus. Hebrews 12:15 warns us to not allow any root of bitterness to block us from receiving God’s grace.
- Demoralises us – There are many verses in the Bible taken out of context, that actually refer to unforgiveness. Luke 17 is not about having faith in deeds but having enough faith to forgive. Mathew 18 is another example. Unforgiveness is a spiritual issue that leads to demonic strongholds that destroy our faith.
Offences are not given to us but are something we pick up. We become bound and crippled where we can no longer move to step into all that God has for us.
GET TO THE ROOT OF YOUR UNFORGIVENESS
So how do we free ourselves from this trap?:-
- Put it down – Drop it! Let it go! Vengeance is God’s. God tells us to cast our burdens onto Him, and not others in gossip, where we are actually just wanting to defend ourselves.
- Let them go free – Offences are like the bait on a hook that traps us and pulls us away from a life with God, so let them off the hook.
- Forgive – Like Joseph, we need to remain silent, don’t embarrass and just forgive, for therein lies the power to overcome all offences.
- Load them with blessing – We are commanded in 1 Corinthians 4:12 to bless those who curse and abuse us.
Yes, this is hard and the truth is that it is those who are closest to us and whom we love and respect the most, that tend to hurt us the most.
Jesus tells us in Mathews 18:22 to forgive someone 490 times (seventy times seven). You don’t need the right feelings in order to forgive, or even an apology – all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed.
Holding onto unforgiveness affects your future, your life, and the generations to come and can even cause health challenges. If we don’t forgive others from our hearts, then our heavenly Father won’t forgive us.
YOUR ROOTS DETERMINE YOUR ROUTE
It is time to uproot the roots of your bitterness and unforgiveness and trust that what your enemies have planned for evil, God will use it for His Glory, just like he did with Joseph, by sending him ahead to position him to save his family from starvation.