I like following informal surveys on social media. It allows me to see into people’s minds. Recently, someone put this on his Facebook page: DIVIDE 500,000 NAIRA BETWEEN YOUR DAD AND MUM. The majority allocated 300,000 to their mothers and the rest to their fathers. A few chose to share the money equally. One respondent caught my curiosity. He replied that he would give 300,000 to his mother and keep the rest. He added, “Make that man go burn for hell”! I concluded that the man’s father was late. I also figured out that he had a rusty relationship with his father. Perhaps his father failed to carry out his fatherly obligations towards him. In any case, it is obvious that this man was bitter against his father and refused to let go even in the grave.
“I believe that labouring when the heart is unforgiving is like sowing among the thorns. It is wasted labour, nothing more than the labour of a fool whose only harvest is weariness. “
As long as this man remains unforgiving, he will continue to carry an undue burden with him. That would no doubt slow him down in life. It is not unlikely that some people might have offended you in the past year or your recent history. However, forgiving them gives you an advantage. Jesus told the parable of the sower who while sowing some of the seeds fell among the thorns and were choked and so were unfruitful. I believe that labouring when the heart is unforgiving is like sowing among the thorns. It is wasted labour, nothing more than the labour of a fool whose only harvest is weariness.