Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Freed From The Pit


One of the big problems with being in the Pit of Illusion is that no good is found there. For example, while in the Pit because of an unforgiving heart, your heart has no room to receive the good God is trying to give you. But when you forgive, clear all the grudges and bad feelings out of our hearts, we create space for God’s goodness come into the heart. Forgiveness is letting go of old thoughts and attitudes so that new thoughts and attitudes can find a place in us.

But there is something else. As long as we hold on to a grudge the person we are refusing to forgive has power over us. It is as if they are standing over us with their foot on our throats while we lie helpless on the floor. But what has happened in the past cannot hurt us unless we are so fixed upon it that it holds us captive.
The amazing thing is that all we need to do to free ourselves from the jailor that holds us captive under foot is to forget about the offense. Forget the grudge and you slip out from under the captor’s foot. You stand tall and walk away a free person.

By letting go of past grudges, heartaches, sorrows or whatever negative emotions hold us captive, we open our hearts to receive the present good and we are free—free to move on and free to be forgiven ourselves. As the Savior taught, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).

By forgiving, we have nothing to lose but vexation and everything to gain! So open your heart and receive!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must have BYU basketball on the brain because when I first saw your title for this post, I thought "did we play New Mexico last night??" :)

But in all seriousness, what a true post. thanks :)

Wendi said...

I appreciated this perspective: "Forgiveness is letting go of old thoughts and attitudes so that new thoughts and attitudes can find a place in us."