No More Circles
December 2012
The pony kept wandering in circles.
The same pace.
The same pattern.
Day in.
Day out.
He’d been retired from his old circus gig for months and yet he did nothing but trace the imaginary lines of his long-gone circus ring. His new home was a spacious and lush pasture abounding in opportunity for exploration and yet, in this newfound place of freedom, his old life still haunted him.
Defined him.
Restrained him.
Controlled him.
Unable to break free, he kept to the same pattern to which he’d been relegated for so long.
This is the burden of unforgiveness. This is its legacy. It sits on you, weighing you down, restricting you from enjoying the new spaces and phases and freedoms that each season of life brings you. It fits you with blinders, keeping you from seeing anything other than the offense done against you, making it hard to view anything else in your life except through its lens. Unforgiveness forces you to stay one-dimensional, thinly sliced, unable to experience the joys that only exist on the periphery. Instead it keeps you narrowly relegated to the artificial boundaries created by yesterday’s disappointments—a circle of mundane living that’s far less than the abundant life you were created for.
But, I know – trust me, I know. It’s hard to forgive. Especially when what’s happened is bad. Terrible. In many ways—in every natural sense—unforgiveable. Perhaps it’s still going on, in fact. You’ve tried to forgive. You’ve thought you were there. But then here it comes again—another betrayal, another broken promise, another blow to your fragile trust—and as a result, deeper hurt. Closed loops. Tighter circles.
I know. I know. Believe me, I know.
But what if we let our bitterness fade along with the last days of 2012? What if we decided that the new year was worth a new shot at living free and fully?
I want your abundant life back. No more circles.
Please, God, no more circles.
So let the process of forgiveness begin today.
First, refuse to store up and harbor a grudge. Make an active decision not to hold a debt over someone else’s head or to keep an ongoing record of their wrongdoing. That’s the way He did it with us, right?
“He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13–14 NLT)
Second, you must leave room for God to act on your behalf. By giving forgiveness, you leave it up to God to deal with the offender. And deal with them, He will—in His own way, in His own timing, much better and more thoroughly than you ever could. Refuse the urge to retaliate. Trust that He will do your fighting for you and “leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19).
Finally, you must pray. Ask the Lord to empower you to forgive. You can’t do this in your own strength. You shouldn’t expect to. Releasing others from the debt they owe requires supernatural resources, strengthening, and encouragement. Pray for it. Pray for all of it. And He will respond.
It’s a miracle, really, forgiveness is. It’s a supernatural outworking of God’s Spirit through you, enabling you to extend something you could never do apart from His indwelling activity. Only God can alter your pattern, quicken your step, expand your reach . . . and make you free – free indeed.
He can, and He will, change the geometry of your life from endless circles into the best shape your heart has ever been in.
