"Don't throw that rock!"

Ephesians 4:31," 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

It's not so hard to obey this scripture when you're dealing with your friends that are nice to you. Of course, it's another subject to be kind to those people that have hurt you. It really doesn't seem fair to think about forgiving some things that have happened, especially when you didn't do anything to deserve wrong treatment. You tried to be good to that person yet they hurt you so deeply and it seems as though they did not truly care. It looks like they're actually getting away with it! That horrible thing that they did keeps replaying over and over in your mind. If they would just say that they were sorry and ask forgiveness, maybe we could work through this. It feels like if you can forgive someone for hurting you, that you're saying what they did wasn't so bad after all. It feels like you're letting them off the hook for being so ugly to you. In fact, it is the other way around. You have let them imprison you in torment as unforgiveness has taken hold and when you forgive, you are letting yourself off the hook to be free.

The Word of God has not been given so that we can force others to obey it. It is given to each one of us. We must be personally accountable to obey. We must not be bitter. We must not be full of wrath. We must not be angry, nor speak evil, nor be unkind. It is wonderful when our friends and loved ones obey the Word but our obedience is not conditional to their obedience. If they are nice, then I'll be nice. Wrong!

God's Word is for your personal benefit. If you do what His word tells you to do then you can be free from the consequences of disobedience. Medical research has proven that unforgiveness can cause physical as well as emotional problems. Biblical research will tell you that unforgiveness will eventually grow to a root of bitterness and cause spiritual problems. When you hold on to an offense (a wrong done to you), you will lose your peace because you damage your fellowship with God through disobedience.

Psalm 119:165,"Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them."

We have a choice to make. Many of us have walked a rocky path in life. Stones of rejection, cruel words, betrayal, and other hurtful deeds have been thrown our way. We can pick the stones up and carry them in our backpacks or we can even throw them at others as time goes along. God's Word would tell us to take the stones out of our packpacks and pile them up making an alter, then climb that alter and offer your life as a living sacrifice. You will be above the pain and hurt on that alter.

Romans 12:1, "1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

We must be careful to stay in the Shadow of the Almighty and walk in forgiveness for our own good.