Let it go!

"Then Peter came and said to Him,  'Lord, how often shall my brother sin 

against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?'  Jesus said to him, 'I do 

not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'"

Matthew 18: 21-22

     

      Let it go!  How many times have you heard or said that phrase?  I know I have said it more than a few times.  It's even a song in a popular Disney movie.  "Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know, Well, now they know.  Let it go, let it go!  Can't hold it back anymore.  Let it go, let it go!"  Letting go is probably one of the hardest human traits.   We want to keep hanging on to it, whatever the it is, so that we won't forget. So we can justify the hurt and the anger, we let it linger.  But in holding on to it, we notice it gets heavier and heavier.  It may have started small, it may have started big but however it started, in holding on to it, it just gets heavier.   

     Our peace is more important than trying to figure out why something happened the way it did, or why someone we care about treated us a certain way that was hurtful.  God gives us that peace, but we must first forgive. We must let it go. In Matthew 18: 21-22  Peter is asking Jesus how often should he forgive his brother.  Jesus tells him seventy times seven, not seven times.  Seven times is a lot to forgive someone for something but seventy times seven, four hundred and ninety times to forgive someone?  As the story continued in Matthew 18,  Jesus tells the story to illustrate to Peter and the others the importance of forgiveness.  He tells of the king who wished to settle the accounts of some of his slaves. One came to him that owed ten thousand talents, but the slave did not have the ability to repay it so he was sold along with his family.  But the slave fell before the king and begged him to let him repay the debt.  The king felt compassion and released him and forgave the debt. But yet the slave went out and found his fellow slave that owed him a hundred denarii and the slave started to shake his fellow slave demanding payment.  The fellow slave begged him to have patience that he would repay him but the slave was unwilling and had him thrown in prison.  The rest of the slaves saw what happened.  They probably knew what the king had done for this slave so they went to the king and told him what happened. In the end, the king had the slave tortured until he could repay all that was owed him.  Jesus tells his disciples the Lord will do the same to each of them if they do not forgive his brother from his heart.  Whoa....that seems harsh. God would extend to us "torture" for our not forgiving others. I don't think it means literal torture but that our hearts would forever hold the anguish and pain of not forgiving, of not letting it go that it would feel like torture. 

       When we forgive,  the peace of God washes over our hearts. In Isaiah 66:12 it says " For thus says the Lord, Behold, I extend peace to her like a river...", a river flowing freely, bubbling along, sweeping away the pain, the hurt and the anguish.  

       Moving water has always had a calming effect on me.  I love to sit by the ocean and watch the water.  It is the same with a lake or a river.  Thinking of the water washing over me like the waves, it brings peace.  "He leads us beside quiet waters." (Ps 23: 2) .   He leads us beside, not into, not through but beside quiet, still peaceful waters.  His peace comes when we forgive.  So let it go and feel the peace of God wash over you like the water of the river.  Let it go!

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; 

not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

John 14:27