Holiday Forgiveness - LaQuenda Jackson

When the holidays come around, I look forward to going to shopping, eating, holiday parties and connecting with friends that I haven’t seen since around this time last year. Yet, it never seems to fail that there is always a person, or two, who are no longer on the invitation list to the holiday soiree. Maybe it’s a friend that I’ve had a disagreement with or a relative that I no longer talking to, but someone has made me angry enough to disconnect.

Anger is running rampant in our society. It’s trending across every demographic in every nation in the world. Because it’s so evident, we can see the tangible effects it can have on our lives. Anger destroys families, churches, even nations. But even so, some of us insist on holding on to our anger and hate.

This is contradictory to what God wants from us. He encourages us to bring peace and restoration to our lives. Hebrew 12:14-15 says “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

In other words, we need to seek peace, seek to remedy our anger-inducing situations, so that we truly live the life that God has in store for us. The truth is that our battle is not against people…what they did, what they said, how they hurt you. Our battle is with the enemy who seeks to destroy our peace, our families and our future. Anger is one of the easiest tools the enemy uses against us. He knows that through righteous indignation, we can justify being angry at someone for an indefinite amount of time. But we’re only hurting ourselves and our relationship with God. God knows that anger leads to sin and warns us against it.

Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” When you let anger fester in your life it becomes like taking poison and hoping the other person gets sick.

So, take this opportunity during the holidays to release some anger and free yourself to experience the love, grace and mercy that God exemplifies during this season.