Bandages are great for flesh wounds, but you can't cover up wounds of the heart.

Bandages are great for flesh wounds, but you can’t cover up wounds of the heart.

“Time heals all wounds.”

You’ve heard that one, right?

Believable? Maybe.

Did you know that time heals many wounds, but not all. Unfortunate as this statement may sound, it’s true. “Time heals all wounds” is a misnomer.

The funny thing is the Bible tells us to forgive instantly. Easier said than done, right? I think the time involved with the healing process of forgiveness helps us grow in spiritual maturity. The harder I have to work to give it up to God, the closer this process of forgiveness draws me to Him.

What if you’re not willing to let it go?

The possibilities seem endless…

Addictions, anger, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, immorality, insomnia, passive aggression, personality disorders, relationship troubles, stress, violence… wow, what a list! Yep, they can all fester from a nagging wound of the past. That’s a lot of baggage to carry around. So that one little thing that you just can’t let go will also separate you from God. Like a well-placed bandage, you can cover it up but that doesn’t make this wound go away. It can also ruin your life.

You may have heard that an angry person stirs up dissension… that one is from Proverbs Chapter 29. The birds of dissension are circling to devour and peck away, festering up and irritating at what should be a waxing moon. So the unsightly spirit of a hardened heart overflows something like the wellspring (the good overflow).  What? What? Yep, dissension flows from the hardened heart and spreads like an out-of-control wildfire to disrupt unity in our communities. Remember from The Wellspring Of Life, whatever we’re storing up in our heart eventually flows from it. That works not only for goodness, but for the bad stuff as well.

Whether wronged by word or deed, time will never heal a wound that we refuse to let go. If you don’t move on, you lose.

The other option?

Forgiveness is the most powerful medicine for our soul. If you want to master your past at some point in time you’ll have to learn forgiveness. (Click To Tweet)

Time does help the dust settle. As humans, sometimes we need that… time to regroup. In the meantime, something else may just happen… we’re making a choice and a bitter fruit is given the opportunity to take hold. My thought process has become to start thinking forgiveness immediately. While it still may take time, I know my objective.

Still don’t feel like forgiving? The Bible tells us to forgive as the Lord forgives us. When we refuse to let it go (man, let it go!) we are effectively refusing to grow more like Christ – and that separates us from God. Bummer dude, as you’re now going it alone and down a dark and dusty road…

Seeking and finding forgiveness is finding something pleasant… quite different from the list above, the symptoms of a hardened heart, the wound that time will never heal, unforgiveness. Chose to forgive and you will find peace, love and joy… the centerpiece of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Can you see friends or relatives who are harboring unforgiveness in their hearts? How can we encourage others to actively seek forgiveness for those festering wounds?

Image courtesy of World Relief