Get on with Your Life

Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
–Philippians 3:13–14

When I was in college, I earned extra income by playing my accordion on the weekends. I was invited to play for a dance at a country club in Fort Worth. The guy said they would pay me sixty-five dollars. I agreed, and when the event was over, I asked for my pay. The guy said, “I’m sorry, I left my checkbook at home, but I’ll put the money in the mail, and you’ll have it by Tuesday.” Tuesday came and went, then Wednesday and Thursday–no check. When I called the guy, he said, “I promise that you will have it by next week.” Next week–still no check.

That money was all I could think about. I couldn’t concentrate in class because I was thinking about what I was going to do to that guy for cheating me. One day, it dawned on me that I was a lot more concerned about that sixty-five dollars than he was. I was obsessing over it, but he probably wasn’t giving it a second thought.

In the same way, we can become obsessed with offenses that have been committed against us. That’s why it makes sense to forgive. Forgiveness frees us to get on with our lives.

The king in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18 understood this. He had a slave who owed him a huge amount of money. The king could have demanded repayment and gone down to the royal treasury every day to see if the money had come in. But the king had greater responsibilities to worry about. He was moved with compassion to forgive the slave, but it was also logical for him to cut his losses and move on with his life.

Hebrews 12:1 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.” As we run the race of the Christian life, the writer said we ought to lay aside the things that slow us down. And nothing will weigh us down more than constantly reliving the hurts of the past and demanding a payment that will never come. Forgiveness is the procedure God has given us to free ourselves so we can live the life He has for us.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Forgiveness on Trial,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2015.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.