Matthew 6:15 (NLT)
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
I, like you maybe, had no idea that forgiveness was an issue for the physical body. Allow me to enlighten you, just as I was once enlightened. Holding a grudge or unforgiveness not only wreaks havoc on your spirit, mind, and heart- but your body as well. Unforgiveness, along with the accompanying anger and bitterness, causes muscle tension, strain on the heart, blood pressure issues, risk of heart attack or disease, hypertension (and many other enormous medical words I don’t understand). Harboring unforgiveness wraps a chain around you that keeps you locked up, miserable, and confined. And there’s no lock on the chain- we hold onto the chain.
Envision my sermon illustration from a week ago, where I had Chris and Sean gripping either end of a chain and pulling. We choose to clutch onto it. We may even have some justifiable reasons for doing so. But we have the power (like Chris in the illustration)to let go. Forgiveness is for our benefit. If the person accepts it, that’s even better. But if not, we still become free of it. When we release it, all tension melts away. We breathe easier. We relax. We give people what Jesus so freely gave us. And, we enjoy greater health.
Application: Forgive someone today. Someone that harmed you…or yourself.
Nutrition Tip: Don’t eat when emotional. No matter the emotion- anger, depression, ecstasy- we tend to bury them in something. Many times its food. We eat to “fell better,” when in reality the binge ends up hurting us even more physically and emotionally.
Exercise Tip: Exercise to release emotions. Bad day? Use a boxing punching bag to let out any anger or anxiety in your body. Or do yoga and calmly release it. Or best case scenario, use a combination of both (like yin and yang for you martial arts types).
