“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”  (Col 3:13)

A funny thing happened and has never stopped since. There was once a man called Joseph who walked out of a prison. But you know what; though free he kept himself locked up in a prison!

Joseph had been sold by his brothers into slavery after an attempted murder on his life (Gen 37). That brutal experience had left him so bruised that even when God restored him to a position of power the pain of betrayal still ached him. After being thrown in jail on false charges, he was plucked from Prison and made Prime minister of Egypt   (Genesis 41). However, though he had now access to all means and was in a position of power a certain matter still left him sleepless. How could his very brothers cause him all the suffering he had experienced.

So, one day, look; there before him are his once captors near starvation and begging for food. All the pain he had let up. He put them through a ringer by locking up Simeon until they returned with Benjamin, the youngest left behind.
Finally, overcome with grief at the mention of his father, Joseph surrendered all and forgave his brothers. “Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him” (Gen 45:14-15).

In a sense it is when he finally forgave them that he started living as a free. Before that he was a man in a prison of bitterness

Like Joseph one could carry a hurt. Like Joseph it could hurt so deep. But the moment you surrender to God and forgive, you will free yourself of that burden to experience the taste of true freedom.

Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I surrender to you any weight I might be carrying for true freedom that you offer through faith in Jesus, this I pray in Jesus’ name.