Forgiveness Is Good Medicine

Forgive and forget. Easier said than done, right? Well, now studies are showing forgiveness is not only good theology, but good medicine as well. According to the latest medical and psychological research, forgiving is good for our souls-and our bodies. People who forgive:

Benefit from better immune functioning and lower blood pressure

Have better mental health than people who do not forgive feel better physically

Have lower amounts of anger and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression

Maintain more satisfying and long-lasting relationships

“When we allow ourselves to feel like victims or sit around dreaming up how to retaliate against people who have hurt us, these thought patterns take a toll on our minds and bodies,” says Michael McCullough, director of research for the National Institute for Healthcare Research and a co-author of To Forgive is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past (IVP, 1997).

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is to release, to let go, relinquish, get rid of sin—ours and those we’ve been victimized by.

Dr. Lewis Smedes, wrote about what forgiveness is not:

When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are immediately healed.

When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are going to be buddy/buddy.

When we forgive a person, this does not mean we surrender the right to restitution or justice when appropriate.

When we forgive a person, this does not mean that we trust them, yet.

When we forgive a person, we are not avoiding pain, we are opening the door to healing.

When we forgive, we take the journey at the pace we are able to handle…the deeper the hurt, the longer the journey.