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Tight Clothes

Have you ever worn clothes that were too tight? Sometimes people have a suit they only wear on rare occasions, and when they pull it out of the back of the closet last minute, they discover it doesn't fit like it used to, and they have no choice but to wear it anyway.

Or maybe the clothes weren't tight when you put them on, but they became that way over the course of the day. After a big meal, the waistband feels like it shrunk, and you can't wait to get some relief when you change into something else.

If you have had to spend time in clothes that are too tight, you understand that good feeling when you can finally put on something more comfortable. After a long day you can slip into your favorite lounge pants and baggy shirt and just let yourself relax. You take a deep breath and hold it in for a moment before finally letting it out. At last you can breathe much easier. 

In her book Forgiving What You Can't Forget, Lysa Terkeurst compares that feeling to when we finally forgive someone who has hurt us. She wrote, "Not forgiving someone isn't teaching the other person a lesson, nor is it protecting you in any way. It's making the choice to stay in pain. It's ratcheting the already too-tight belt tighter and tighter with each remembrance." 

Choosing not to forgive is like choosing to stay in the uncomfortable clothes. The person you are mad at is happy and enjoying life, completely unbothered by your choice to be miserable. And for what? Do you think you are giving yourself the upper hand by being bitter? Let go of the anger, forgive that person, and put on your comfy pants. 

Ephesians 4:29 reminds us, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." 


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