Chain Reaction of Unforgiveness

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. —Ephesians 4:32

Have you ever been the brunt of someone’s verbal barrage.  It may help you to understand that it may have nothing to do about you, but some unrelated problems in that angry person’s life.  You may just happen to be the nearest available “punching bag” whereby they can vent their frustrations. They are hurting in one spot, but grunting in other.

For example, a husband gets chewed out by his boss at work. When he gets home, he yells at his wife. Then his wife takes it out on the kids. One of the kids goes out and kicks the cat. The cat runs off into the woods to find a rat to bite. The moral of the story is: If the husband would have forgiven his boss, the rat would not have to worry about getting bitten by the cat.

The best cure for past hurts and offenses is to forgive the one who has hurt you. Forgiveness will stop the chain reaction of pain.

When someone treats you wrongly, look beyond their mistreatment of you and try to find the reason.  Ask yourself, “Why is this person acting like this? Have they been offended themselves? Has someone hurt them to make them lash out at me?”  The truth is, hurting people often hurt others. To stop hurt, engage the heart, and forgive the offender.