| This is the whole picture, then. You are an emotional being, made up of 3 parts. Just as you have to bathe and feed your physical body daily, you have to care for your spirit by "eating" (reading) the Word of God daily, and you have to nurture your soul (your emotions and mind). You can go without a bath for several days, but very soon you begin to stink. The same goes for your spirit body. If you neglect God's word, your spiritual power will rot and die away. Perhaps a lack of soul nourishment is the leading cause of death today. We feed our soul (emotions) violent TV shows and stories of betrayal. We watch court room TV, Judge Judy and Jerry Springer. We allow anger and prejudice, hatred and jealousy to fester in our hearts until we're no longer able to make sound judgements. We have dulled our spirits with a misunderstanding of our emotional needs. This may be the first time you have ever heard this, but I hope it won't be the last. Mankind has emotional needs, and one of these is cleaning the slate through forgiveness. You've no doubt heard of the fight or flight syndrome that is the latest psychological and health problem rage. This is the idea that when we get upset, our body's organs prepare to fight or run, either way it pumps large amounts of adrenaline through our hearts and we literally wear ourselves out over time by nothing more than stress and fear. Something similar happens when unforgiveness and hate are allowed to build up in your heart. It is like filling a fragile rubber balloon with several wooden baby's toy blocks. The weight, the density of the wood, the sharp corners, the clutter and all that goes along with the mess we make for ourselves. Who would willingly stuff their precious heart with hard wood blocks? I had a very unpleasant situation not long ago, where a man cheated my children and me out of a large sum of money, purposefully. I went through the normal range of emotions, and the anger was about to eat me alive. I'm not talking about a hundred dollars, I'm talking about thousands, and at a time when we were most helpless to protect ourselves. My mind was unsettled and I laid awake at night trying to think of what I could do to get the money back, or how could I get even with him, or make myself feel better. Believe me, there is nothing you can do to make yourself look better when someone makes a fool out of you. The only thing you can do is chalk it up to experience and move on. The BEST thing you can do, and the only thing to preserve the integrity of your tender spirit, is to completely forgive. I finally felt in my heart genuine pity for the man and his family. I stopped wishing harm or recompense on him, and began to wish him well and pray for them. I slowly began to come out of the darkest days of my life. I can't say that I have forgotten what it felt like to feel helpless and betrayed. I can't say that my heart doesn't cringe slightly when I think of the man, because I was so trusting and loved all my fellow men unconditionally. After a period of time I was able to send a message to him that he owed me nothing and I wished him a good life. That was the best medicine for my soul that I'd had in a long time. Jesus's ways are truly the best ones, and I honestly do not wish for Jesus to hold him accountable for that loss in the day of judgement. |