Letting go of past hurts will help you live at peace with people. As such if you are someone who cannot let go of past hurts, you will be doing yourself a great disservice. When you hold onto grudges, you are holding yourself captive – a prisoner. You cannot enjoy absolute peace if you hold onto past hurts and refuse to forgive. The key to living a peaceful life lies in the fact that you don’t hate anybody, you don’t have grudges against anybody and you don’t have anything to forgive yourself for.

You see, the “blame game” is as old as Adam and Eve. You remember how Adam blamed Eve and Eve also blamed the serpent (Genesis 3:12-13)? But the blame game doesn’t help you nor anyone. To every conflict between you and someone, you need to first of all ask yourself if the issue is with me or the other party. If the issue is with you, make the bold effort and accept your mistakes and ask for forgiveness. If you do all in your power and the person refuses to forgive you, then as the Bible says, let such a fellow be as a heathen and a tax collector, (Matthew 18:17).

However, if you are the person who was wronged and the person asked for forgiveness, forgive the person. So the Bible says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men”, (Romans 12:18). You can see that to live at peace with people depends on you. God has given you the power of choice! God won’t force you to live at peace with anyone – you have the power. If you are a Christian who is still holding onto grudges and unforgiveness, I implore you to let go. Forgive, because forgiveness will free you from the shackles of hate and propel you into a state of peace.