A woman put down a long list of things the husband did for which she would never forgive him. Firstly, the man left their marriage unceremoniously. While the marriage lasted, she suffered physical abuse in his hand. That made the second “unpardonable” sin of the husband. Cheating and abandonment made the third and the fourth count respectively. The fifth reason was substance abuse. The man seems to place his drug above his wife. Right after the marriage fell apart, the man spread rumour to smear her, and that became the sixth reason. Finally, she claimed that he tried to harm her 70-year old aunt.
In fairness, a woman who endured all these situations should be hurt. However, choosing not to let go would only hurt her further and deeper. Failure to forgive means that she had not gone past where she was when all those things happened. To that extent, she would spend every passing day re-living the low moments of her life. Furthermore, those situations would weigh and slow her down in the journey of life. This in addition to the spiritual implications of unforgiveness – shutting the door of forgiveness against herself and receiving answers to her prayers. However you look at it, unforgiving attitude is a plague that afflicts the offended party more than the offender. There are things that impede life. Two of them are mentioned in our text. Sin is one, weight is the other. I believe that unforgiviness is a heavy weight. Those who want to make good their race must lay it aside.