Un-forgiveness

Mathew 5: 23-24

Therefore if you are presenting your^a]offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave youroffering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your ^[c]offering.

Jesus said leave your gift at the alter – gift here can mean worship, praise, offerings – leave it and go and sort out the offence first because that is more important than the gift you are bringing as the gift is only acceptable  to God if you have a clear clean conscience. Unforgiveness is like taking a cup of poison and expecting it to hurt the other person- it’s irrational and unreasonable. It is the main stumbling block the enemy uses in our lives and when we harbour unforgiveness we are given place or access to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). We have to learn to live by faith and this means that we also FORGIVE by FAITH. Forgiving by faith means that initially we might not see or experience the fruit of peace and joy when we think about the situation but by faith we continue to declare and confess that we have forgiven the person and we refuse to dwell upon the symptoms which might be pain or anger, eventually as faith for forgiveness rises in our heart we will find out that we have sufficient grace to overlook and forgive and all the symptoms of unforgiveness (pain, hurt, shame, anger etc.) will disappear. Every aspect of our Christian life is the same and just as we apply faith for healing, prosperity, salvation etc. we also have to forgive by faith and see the reality of the joy of peace and unity dwell in our hearts.