(Guest Editorial by Brother Ritechus N. Dignation)

Churches today sure can get in a mess. The problem is that churches are made up of people and after all, people are human……..sinfully human. In some churches, the problem is worldly members, in other churches, there’s a power struggle, and in some churches, all they do is bicker and squabble and some even split, and it’s usually over nothin’.

One problem that can always be found in every church is unforgiveness. Some folks just can’t get over some penny ante junk and they pass the family feud on down to their kids. It usually ain’t nothing more than like when Aunt Suzy got a bee in her bonnet at cousin Clara ‘cause they happened to wear the same hat to the Sunday-go-to-meetin’ meal, and neither one of ‘em ever got over that cat fight. Then there was that time that Uncle Eb made a sour face over widow Magnolia’s carrot cake. She went and spread lies all over the county about his drinkin’ problem that he never had, but the church near ‘bout threw him out, until no witnesses could be found.

Every preacher would do well to preach on forgiveness once every three months, cause brother, all it takes to get crossed up with folks is puttin’ your mouth in gear before you engage your brain. Job said, "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" and some folks make sparks continually. Ever’body’s gonna offend at some time and ever’body’s gonna get offended eventually. Jesus said that offenses would come, but woe be to those who bring them. Apparently, Jesus is not too happy with folks who go around offending. However, since He gave us a heads up, and promised offenses would come, we should focus on doing the right thing and gettin’ right with God and man after the offense, by doin’ our share of forgivin’.

How dare anyone not forgive another person, especially since God has already forgiven us more than we will ever have to forgive anyone else. Some church members won’t forgive others over one little word spoken out of place, when God has already forgiven them of a boat load of sins. Shame! Unforgiveness hinders, hurts and halts the Spirit of God among His people and has caused many a split in families and churches. Brethren, these things ought not to be. When the Devil tells you that the other person should forgive first, you just ignore the father of lies, forgive, forget, then keep on walkin’ and don’t look back. You will find that you can actually sleep at night and you won’t live in fear of runnin’ into widow Magnolia when you go to town.

Joseph Harris, has been a college professor and pastor since 1987 and his writings have appeared on Mississippi Baptist, WND, Sword of the Lord, Intellectual Conservative, Conservative Daily News, Canada Free Press, Land of the Free, News America Daily, and the European Union Times.