UNFORGIVENESS
Scriptures: Matthew 18:21-22; Luke 6:36-37; 23:34; Romans 6:10; 14:10; Ephesians 4:32; Hebrew 12:15; Genesis 50:19-21
Introduction:
Forgiveness is an easy word to say but a difficult action to carry out. However, the Bible repeatedly speaks of forgiveness so we cannot ignore its importance. Nor can we over emphasize the significance and impact of forgiveness.
Being unforgiving is a much more natural result for us human beings, but it is far more damaging as well. An unforgiving spirit does not just sprout up within us over night. It involves a series of responses, or lack of responses, and therefore takes time to develop.
Charles Stanley, in his book The Gift of Forgiveness, identifies ten stages that his experience has taught him people with an unforgiving spirit go through (pp. 110-115). As my experience has led me to similar conclusions I am going to use his list as a springboard for mine. I will of course be changing, editing, adding, subtracting, and adapting it to my own personal specifications. With my list I came up with nine.
In Developing an Unforgiving Spirit WE:
One: Get Hurt – An unforgiving spirit starts when we are hurt or wronged in some way. It does not matter if the hurt came from a physical, emotional, or verbal source. It does not matter if the hurt happened when we were children, teens, or adults.
All of our hurts really stem from some type of rejection; that's really what it boils down to. We may not even recognize it as rejection right away, but that is what happens when others wrong us. We can feel “hurt, pain, abandonment, embarrassment, hatred, or some other negative emotion.” But it all comes back to rejection.