I encountered two things this morning, one good for me, and one probably not. I'll focus on the good one for now, and reflect as appropriate - perhaps not at all - on the potentially harmful one later.
A radio preacher was addressing the issue of resentment, and how holding onto it can poison us over time. Interestingly for a sola scriptura guy, he observed that the word doesn't appear in the Bible, but he acknowledged a few places where the concept can be found. Also interesting was the Greek word that is used for the closest thing to the idea, and where else it appears.
I wish I could remember the actual word, but its meaning is basically related to keeping a record of something in a ledger. This makes sense, as does the other places this word is used, which apply to God not keeping a record of our sins, for instance. The word has been translated in several of these places as "impute," which has very different implications to me from the actual sense I get of this word.
It can be very difficult for us to not keep a record of hurt done to us. The essence of forgiveness is the decision, made over and over again as needed, to let it go.
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