Read: Matthew 18:21-35
So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. (v. 35)
It’s been said that “unforgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Unforgiveness slowly corrodes the heart, robbing it of peace, joy, and closeness with God. In Jesus’s parable of the unforgiving servant, we see the tragedy of a man who was forgiven much but who, in turn, refused to forgive his friend for very little. The story reminds us that mercy received must become mercy given. Those who know grace must live by grace.
God has forgiven us an unpayable debt, one we could never hope to settle. How, then, can we cling to grudges over small offenses? Forgiveness does not erase the memory of pain, but it releases the power of pain to control us. It is not denying what happened but entrusting justice to God, who alone can heal the wound. The price of forgiveness may be your pride, but the reward is your peace.
To follow Jesus means forgiving as he forgave—freely, fully, and from the heart. When you let go of bitterness, you make room for God’s healing presence. Unforgiveness binds, but mercy liberates. Every act of forgiveness breaks a chain the enemy would use to hold you captive. And when you release others, God releases you to walk in freedom and joy. May his love empower you to forgive as freely as you have been forgiven.
As you pray, ask God to help you release every grudge and fill your heart with his mercy and peace.
Rev. Shadrack Ogwal is Vicar of Alebtong Vicarage St. Philips CoU, serving in the rural Ugandan diocese of Lango. He shares a message of hope and God’s faithful love in a community that faces poverty, food insecurity, and the trauma of civil conflict.
