05/09/2026
THE MASK
To forgive is to forget. Not the event itself, but the hurt of the wrongdoing.
Forgive the hurt and the pain they caused you, not the action they took to create it. The hurt and the negative emotion that action produced are the real culprits here, not the action itself. The hurt is what kills you but strengthens them.
Don't hold on to your pain. It creates a scar that keeps reminding you of your past, and your past will hinder the possibilities of your present.
Pain kills hope. Hope creates future possibilities. No one who clings to hope stays down. So get up and fight back the pain.
It's not easy to let go of pain, even when you want to, because it often masquerades as the trophy you get for being the victim. It makes you believe you lose your right to self-pity as the victim once you let go of the pain. Humans are emotionally conditioned to find pleasure in receiving pity, from themselves or from external parties. This puts you in a very dangerous spot, because the more you dwell there, the more addicted you become, and the harder it becomes to let go.
Pain belongs to self and is often a reflection of a deeper, hidden problem. When these underlying issues get poked by external forces, they bleed pain in response.
The only way to get to the root of the matter is to uproot the foundation of all issues: the man called self. He can only be tamed by the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. He alone can deliver the justice you deserve. I know you want justice, and the justice you truly deserve is not another's pain, but your own healing. So let God heal you.
Choose hope today.
Choose to forgive.
Revenge is not the answer, and I'll tell you why.
Contrary to popular emotional opinion and heavily publicized social belief systems, revenge will not cure your hurt, neither will it make you feel better or help you move on faster. It does the opposite, and worse.
Revenge amplifies your pain and creates a greater burden for you to justify your actions when regret kicks in. It only creates more wounds and more scars for you, leading to an endless roller coaster of daily, untamed, unlearned emotions.
Revenge is wicked and lacks every form of self-control. To embrace it is to self-destruct. It goes all out for the culprit, but you lose yourself in the process. It creates a mask on you, one that takes years of deliberate forgiveness and healing to remove.
Revenge is rooted in pain and thrives on pain. This is why it seeks to create a greater level of hurt, not merely reciprocate the action in the same measure.
Revenge is the worst form of justice you could ever seek when you've been wronged. It makes terrible judgments, punishes the offender and the offended alike, and offers you only a temporary mirage of healing.
Revenge never eliminates your hurt; it masks it in bitterness and hatred. And hatred creates monsters, monsters that can never be tamed, monsters that are never satisfied. When these monsters have had their fill of the one who wronged you, they turn on you. They eat you from within, disarming your present, and ensuring you have no defence and no hope of recovery. They ravage you from the inside out, feasting on your dreams, your hopes, your plans, your purpose, your love, your relationships, and even your fellowship with God.
Revenge is a ruthless tormentor. It creates a cycle of hurt, a chain of bleeding victims. It destroys you, the offended, and then uses you to create more victims for it to feast on, because it is never satisfied. And then, suddenly, you find yourself wearing the mask of the very culprit you once detested.
I know they hurt you, and you may feel you'll never forgive them for it. But if you don't, you might soon find yourself on the receiving end of that same unforgiveness. The monster you've become, and the ones you've created, may not be kind enough to lend you the hand of forgiveness that could deliver you from the pit you've dug for yourself.
