Quantcast
Channel: Dr. Karin L. Smithson » Feature
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Don’t Be Left Holding the Bag

0
0

Today I am featuring a guest blogger in the insightful piece below - my mother, Rev. Lisa L. Graves, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Clarkesville, GA. As an deeply studied theologian, she is not only the most gifted pulpit minister I have ever heard but the biggest inspiration in my life.

 Mom baptizing my son, Hoyte

This article appeared recently in her local paper, The Northeast Georgian, and I thought it was too amazing not to share. I hope that it speaks to you as much as it has to me … and that you walk with a much lighter load after reading it. Even if you are not a Christian, the principles of letting go of someone else’s offenses to set yourself free can still be applied to your life – just do it in your own spiritual way and accept the freedom that comes with letting go. Read on for your inspiration …

 

Don’t Be Left Holding the Bag

by Rev. Lisa L. Graves

While I was in seminary I wore a backpack filled with about fifteen pounds of books. Eventually, one of the straps gave way and tore off the backpack.  Not wanting to invest in another bag, I tied the torn strap to the good strap and began wearing the bag over my right shoulder.

After about a year, I began feeling sharp, shooting pains in that shoulder while carrying the bag. Eventually, I could feel the sharp pains even when not carrying the bag, but while sitting in front of the computer or reading a book.

It turned out that I had permanently damaged some nerves in that shoulder from the weight and position of the heavy backpack. I still wince when I turn my head, or wake up after sleeping in a wrong position. All because I chose to carry that heavy, damaged backpack to school with me every day.

Un-forgiveness. It is something we all struggle with, but our struggle would not last nearly as long if we realized that carrying ‘un-forgiveness’ around with us year after year, can cause injury, pain and permanent damage.

In medieval times, when a person took someone else’s life, part of the punishment was to have the corpse of the victim strapped to one’s back (like a huge backpack). The guilty person had to drag the corpse around until the rotting body eventually poisoned the body that was carrying it around. Yuk!

If truth be known, the same thing happens to us when we choose not to forgive. It is like strapping the offender and his or her sin to our backs. Slowly, but surely, the sin we refuse to forgive begins to poison us, and we begin to poison everything and everyone we touch, including our children and their children.

I have known grown children who have inherited their parents’ heavy backpacks after they died. Like their parents, the children dutifully carried the bags around, sometimes not even remembering what the sin was or the original offender’s name.

We want to believe that withholding forgiveness really hurts the person who offended us.  I don’t think so. In reality, we are hurting ourselves and those we love much more.

Un-forgiveness not only keeps the un-forgiven sin (and often, the offender) strapped to our backs, but it also consumes much of our time and energy. Time and energy that could be spent making the world a better, instead of a bitter, place.

If you still feel the weight of someone’s un-forgiven sin strapped to your back, or if you feel sharp, shooting pains in your soul – it’s time. It’s time to take off the backpack and lay it at the foot of the cross – and leave it there. God can handle it. And you can take your life back.

 

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If you hold on to the sins of anyone, they have been held on to. John 20:23


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images