If you clicked on this article thinking I was going to tell you all about how screaming the real-life "F-word" at someone would solve your problems or somehow make you feel better, then I'm sorry to disappoint because that's not why I wrote this. This is about a very different word, with a much bigger meaning, that is a lot harder to say: forgiveness. Now before you shrug this off as just another article telling you how you should live your life, check out the reasons why choosing forgiveness is going to reward you so much more than choosing anger.
1. You can't move on while holding the burden of anger.
Picture this: Each day, you strap on your backpack and start your daily hike up a mountain. And every time you're hurt or someone wrongs you, you add a stone to your bag. Some are small things, almost sand. And some a big, huge boulders that take nearly everything in you to even lift. Each day that goes by, that backpack gets a little bit heavier, and your legs become weary, you steps become labored, and eventually, you won't be able to make it up that mountain any longer. Eventually, you have two choices: either begin removing things from your bag, or sit still, paralyzed by the weight of what's inside.
2. Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Simple as that. (See 1 Corinthians 13:5).
3. It takes more strength to forgive than to be angry.
There is so much power in forgiveness. Power in healing, power in letting go, and power in showing love. Max Ludaco said, "Forgiveness doesn't diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God." In other words; open your heart to the freedom of letting go and let Grace Himself handle the rest.
4. You have been forgiven in the most perfect way, by the most perfect love.
Someone loved you with such a ferocity, that they were willing to give up their life in the most brutal way, to save you. You were completely, wholly, perfectly forgiven, even when you didn't deserve it. We hadn't earned even a second chance, and yet we're given dozens, hundreds, thousands of chances. So who are we to withhold that from each other.
"Forgive as the Lord forgave you." - Colossians 3:13
*Disclaimer: this doesn't mean forgiveness is always easy, truthfully it's so often not. BUT it is something that we're called to do.
So the next time that you feel a certain four-letter word come out of your mouth, maybe try this F-word instead. I'm willing to bet that you won't regret it.