Years ago, Disney produced a movie called Frozen. It was all the rage of little girls across the country. My granddaughter was one of those. She would have been around 6 or 7 years old. She loved the movie and thus, loved the song “Let It Go.” That summer she and her brother came to stay a week with us, and this song was stuck in her head. It was a constant melody that became the theme of the week. We all ask her to let it go! However, as I thought of that song, I realized there was some spiritual truth in the title. There are times God instructs us to let it go!
We are instructed in Proverbs 19:9 to stop rehashing a matter. We are to “cover” the wrong done to us, it is putting away the wrong done to us. This person who let’s go is seeking love, they are not seeking self-vindication. Too often we are done wrong, and we want everyone to know what has happened. It’s a way of exalting self, but scripture teaches forgiveness and forgetting if the relationship is to remain healthy. We are not to dwell on past transgressions against us, but we are to bury them, to treat them as dead. Dwelling on grievances alienates friends, God’s design is to love and forgive.
Proverbs 17:9 “He that covered a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeated a matter separateth very friends.”
In Proverbs 16:27-28, we are warned of being the kind of person who seeks to find out and share bad things about others. You may know someone who finds out something bad about a person and they can’t wait to share it. Their lips are like a burning fire, they seek to gossip about others and spread information that separates friends. When we hear bad things about others it needs to become a matter of prayer for them. True or untrue, we need to give it to God and let it go.
Proverbs 16:27-28 “An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.”
Jesus spoke about letting go in Matthew 6:14-15. He taught us that forgiving, letting go of the offenses, is essential for our own forgiveness. It is not an option to pick and choose who we will forgive. Many Christians say they can’t forgive, or they can’t let go of the hurt they feel. God never instructed us to do something that was impossible. If He requires it, He will help us to do it. To let go of the hurt someone has caused us is a freeing of the soul. We need to remember the forgiveness that God extends to us. No pain can match the pain God must have felt when we, His creation, made in His image, chose to turn away from Him and sin against Him. He created us and made a perfect world for us, yet we chose our own way. Rejection by us and the separation He suffered when His Son took our sins on Him, was the extreme price He paid because He loved us. The awareness of the undeserving grace we received should challenge us to extend it to others. This kind of forgiveness is evidence that we are His.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
How often are we to let go and forgive? In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks Jesus this same question. Jesus’ response was 70 x 7. This does not mean we try to keep count of the forgiveness we extend, but it is teaching us there are no limits to our forgiveness. Just as God continues to forgive us over and over, we are to have that same mindset toward others.
Matthew 18:21-22 “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
What do you need to let go of today? Do you feel justified in your anger or unforgiving spirit toward someone? Hurt can cause us to be bitter, resentful, and angry. It can rob us of the peace with God, and of God. Don’t allow others’ sin to put a wedge between you and God. Pray and ask God to help you to forgive and forget. Only by the empowering of the Holy Spirit will you be able to do this, but if you are sincere, He will help you. When I let go of the past I can focus on the present, and look forward to the future. In Micah 7:19, God has compassion on us, He will subdue our sins and cast them into the depths of the sea. In Hebrews 8:12, He will be merciful and remember our sins no more. When He forgives, it’s as if He forgets. This does not mean God can not remember them, He is God He can do anything, but it means He no longer holds it against us. We can let go because of what God has done for us. We are free by God’s grace from the sins of our past and we are free to forgive. Are you willing to let go?
Micah 7:19 “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
