Break the cycle of wrong doing - forgiving
Updated: Feb 21
By Session 3:14, 10/02/2026
Personal notes from the verse of the day study in the Bible App
Verse of the day : 20/01/2026
1 Thessaloniciens 5:15- LSG
Scripture
1 Thessaloniciens 5:15 LSG
Prenez garde que personne ne rende à autrui le mal pour le mal; mais poursuivez toujours le bien, soit entre vous, soit envers tous.
Video
Watch This Teaching Clip of 1 Thessalonians 5:15 by Sidhara Udalagama: https://www.bible.com/en/videos/51412?orientation=PORTRAIT&utm_source=YVAPP&utm_medium=SHARE&utm_content=STORY_CLIP
Devotional : Undeserved Mercies
Spiritual Foundation
When someone hurts you or, worse, hurts somebody that you love, revenge can seem appealing. After all…
They were mean.
They were selfish.
They talked behind your back.
They broke a vital promise.
They lied about you.
They criticized you.
They ignored you.
They did the unthinkable.
They walked away.
They deserve to be punished, right? To feel some of that same pain? They deserve a consequence that will not only help them learn, but will be just as severe as the inflicted wounds.
And yet—because God sees things differently, both His standards and tactics can be surprising. And that’s why the apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Thessaloniki, said:.
“See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NLT
Paul’s words sound a lot like Jesus’ words—to love your neighbor as yourself; to do to others what you’d like them to do to you. (See: Matthew 22:38-40)
Matthew 22:38-40
God’s ways might not always be easy, but they can always be trusted.
When we choose unforgiveness, hate and anxiety and bitterness will likely take root.
Unforgiveness is letting the door open to the enemy
The enemy will take root and use this open door to destroy you. Not maybe, he will do it.
John 10:10 part 1 : The thief//enemy comes only to steal and kill and destroy:…
Another version said that :
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
Which means that he comes ONLY, in the only goal to hurt you. And he doesn’t come if the door is closed!!!
He wants to steal your time, your joy, your peace, kill you means not only physically, he doesn’t want you to get back with God (which is death, eternal death), he comes to destroy God’s plan. “The” plan and any plan God has for you.
Unforgiverness is a lack of love
Cause unforgiveness is a lack of love for others but mainly for yourself, you live with this pain, this wound in you. That’s why in Mathieu 6:4 :
pardonne-nous nos offenses, comme nous aussi nous pardonnons à ceux qui nous ont offensés.-Mathieu 6:4
We say that we are forgiving others for hurting us, AND we are praying to God to forgive them! Which is an act of love in itself.
Why ? Worrying about other people’s salvation is true and real love. You show that you worry about the fact that God will not forgive them and so you are praying for not letting the space between them and God grow leading to the absence of God in their life, you’re interceding for them, which is love. Not forgiving is stealing and killing like Satan does. Unforgiverness is a lack of love for God, you are destroying your relationship with God.
Unforgiverness creates space between you and God.
You go against God’s law, He told you to forgive like He forgives you.
If you don’t forgive, God will not forgive you !
Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV): "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Which highlights the fact that God's forgiveness for us is conditional on our willingness to extend forgiveness to others from our heart. It is the only condition.
Unforgiverness is a sin
It is a Command, not an Option: Jesus explicitly commands believers to forgive, making refusal a sin. Why ? If God does not forgive you, you create a space between you and God, cause you can’t come to Him if you didn’t forgive. He can’t redeem and renew you if you didn’t repent of this sin first. And so your relationship with Him get impacted.
Holding grudges leads to bitterness and disrupts fellowship with God.
“Fellowship with God is a deep, two-way spiritual communion involving partnership, sharing, and intimacy with the Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit, built on faith, obedience, prayer, and Scripture, allowing believers to experience God's presence, guidance, and forgiveness, even amidst sin, through Christ's sacrifice.”
Fellowship is unity with God and unity with God’s will.
So Unforgiverness is that deep ! Cause it breaks unity with God, and it will lead you far from God, without his presence which is eternal death and so it is leading you to hell. So Unforgiverness is that deep !
Unforgiverness comes with other sin
hate and anxiety and bitterness will likely take root. When you don’t forgive, you let the door open to other sins to come. Unforgiverness :
leads to sadness which comes with depression, addictions to not feel like that: substances,lust, eating disorders, …
≠ joy, self-control
Leads to hate which comes with anger, wrath, hurting other people, killing, murder
≠ love, goodness and self-control physically
Leads to worry about other people’s will to hurt you, which is fear of others, but fear in general comes with anxiety
≠ peace and self-control in thoughts
Leads to bitterness which is lack of love and comes with treating other people badly
≠ kindness and patience
All are against the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Unforgiverness is lack of love for the Holy Spirit and Jesus. Unforgiverness steal you from living a great life.
Unforgiverness leads to cooperation with Satan
Unforgiverness steals and kills like Satan does. Unforgiverness is a sin, is lack of love for God. We know that the enemy comes to destroy God’s plan. And so by having an open wound, God cannot fill you with His love and he cannot use you,
Why ? A hole in your heart, when God pour His love into it how can you be full with the hole ? How can God use you for His plan and give to others love through you if you keep spilling it because of your unforgiveness ? You are hijacking the plan of God by not cooperating with him and so you are cooperating with the enemy.
So close the doors, guard your heart in faith. And choose forgiveness. It is a choice that you have to make. you can’t follow 2 masters, you can’t be an ally in those two plans.
But when we choose forgiveness (even though we might need to consider new boundaries), love and peace and reconciliation can flourish.
Forgiveness is Obedience : there’s peace in forgiveness
“But When” => is used To introduce a contrast, to show that something changes depending on the moment or situation. Here, the moment you choose to forgive (the action) then you have God’s promise.
Your action of forgiveness, your obedience to God, grant you love and peace in Him. You will live, the Bible says in John 10:10 part 2 of the verse : I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (more abundantly). So You will live better !
How to forgive ?
Let go of the pain and let God operate !
(Next article : Analogy of Jesus being your surgeon and you healer with you the patient wounded with pus in your body, putting bandaid (worldly stuff) onto a bullet wound and not knowing you have multiple wounds (big and small) and infections in some of them that are spreading to other parts of your body and kills you little by little)
links : Analogy of Jesus being your surgeonYou have to go through it. It is painful but you cannot go around it.
1.Ask God to reveal to you the area of your heart that are wounded.
Ask Him to resurface everything, to put His light into the darknesses of your heart so you will know where it needs reparations.
2.Then you ask Him to heal you.
Jehovah Raphat “The God who heals”,
call on His name and say yes to Him. God not only takes care of your wounds, He heals them completely.
3.And ask God for strength
Cause it will not be easy but God is near the brokenhearted, it is a promise that God wants to tell you. God is near to those suffering emotional pain. He provides comfort, healing, and salvation, not remaining distant but entering into sorrow with you and offering refuge, even as demonstrated through Jesus' empathy and weeping.
Psalm 34:28 : The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
is a message of God's compassion, understanding, and presence during times of deep distress, whether from personal sin or worldly sorrows.
Forgiving is an act of faith
4.Say yes to Him :
Ask Him to take your burden, everything away
Act of faith : let your burdens to the altar, let go of unforgiving, your sorrow, your pain, your addictions, all the consequences of the disobedience of your unforgiverness.
Cry out to God and let everything there
5.and repent
6.and trust that God will forgive you and heal you and renew you.
Trust that God will take care of what you let at the altar. Jesus in the Bible when He did a miracle, when He would heal people, He would say :
go, and don’t sin anymore, for your faith has saved you; go in peace !
Do the same !
salvation is faith
you believe that Jesus can forgive you and can heal/renew : you that’s faith. So take faith, hold the fruit of the Holy Spirit of faithfulness that He can and He will restaure your heart, He will heal your wounds, and He will give you love, joy and peace in this process. So take it for granted because is had already been granted to you when Jesus died on the cross for you.
You believe in salvation, you have faith in salvation.
Wisdom with forgiveness
The Bible said to forgive and forget but you need to put some boundaries inspired by God and stand on bussiness on them.
So 7. ask God to give you strength to stand on bussiness on those boundaries, without fear of being hurt again.
Today’s text said that : God’s ways might not always be easy, but they can always be trusted. So Let go and let God!
Conclusion
So, what about you? Have you ever been mean? Have you been selfish? Talked behind someone’s back? Broke a vital promise? Lied, criticized, ignored, or done the unthinkable? Have you ever decided to give up and walk away?
In our unique-to-us ways, we’ve all let someone down. We’ve disregarded God’s instructions and, instead, created our own instructions. We’ve messed up.
We deserve God’s wrath but, instead, He’s offered us His unconditional love.
Because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, we didn’t get what we deserve. And even while hanging on that cross, breathing His last earthly breaths, He cried out,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
=> Jesus was still worried about our salvation as He was dying to fulfill it ! for us. He still loved us and forgave us AND prayed for us before His last breath. What a total act of true love.
Jesus repaid our evil with extreme mercy, leaving us free to conquer evil with good. So today, let’s honor His sacrifice by treating others the way He treated us.
Forgiveness is honoring Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Application
Prayer
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