The Study of Unforgiveness
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Well, the research is clear—resentment and unforgiveness are bad for your health.
According to Dr. Karen Swartz, Director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at John Hopkins Hospital,
Withholding forgiveness can lead to chronic anger, and this in turn can produce increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system.1
That reminds me of one of Jesus’ parables in which a servant who had been forgiven much refused to show mercy to a fellow servant. The Bible tells us that in the end the unforgiving servant was handed over to “tormentors.”
I think we, too, may experience tormentors when we refuse to forgive. Those tormentors can be things like chronic physical ailments.
Forgiving someone won’t guarantee a pain-free life. But I can’t help but wonder how much pain we might be spared if we would choose forgiveness instead of bitterness.
With Seeking Him, I’m Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.
