Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1
Forgiveness frees us to get on with our life. That’s why forgiveness makes sense a lot of times. It is a way to free us to get on with our lives.
The king in Jesus’s parable in Matthew 18 understood that. The king could have said, “I’m going to make this slave repay me.” And he could have gone down to the royal treasury every day to see if his payment came in. But the king understood he had greater responsibilities in running the kingdom than worrying about this payment. So he said, “The only logical thing to do is to cut my losses and move on with my life.” That’s what forgiveness does. Forgiveness is the procedure God has given each one of us to free ourselves so that we can live the life God has for us.
In Hebrews 12:1, the writer says, “Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The writer is saying that the Christian life is like a race. Every runner knows he or she has to travel as lightly as possible. So the writer of Hebrews tells us to lay aside those things that are slowing us down in our Christian lives. One thing he says is to lay aside sin. We all know what sin is, don’t we? But the writer also tells us to set aside “every encumbrance.” These are things in life that aren’t necessarily sinful, but they weigh us down. And nothing will weigh you or me down any more than constantly reliving the hurts of the past and demanding a payment that will never come for the offense committed against us. Forgiveness frees us to get on with our lives.
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