Why are you holding on?

 

Recently, I came across something that I had never thought about before and was immediately struck by a certain bible verse. But before I divulge the verse, let me tell you about what led to this lightning bolt.

Looking at a globe of the world, if you were to travel north from anywhere in the world towards the Arctic or North Pole, after reaching that point, anywhere beyond it, you’ll then be heading south; right?

And if you continue making that entire longitude circumference journey, you will always go from south to north or from north to south.

However, it doesn’t work in that same way when you’re heading in an easterly direction on the globe to get to the west. You just continue heading east.

North to south and vice versa is finite but heading east is infinite, you’ll always be heading east. Traveling along that line of latitude in either direction is a continuous journey.

You probably know this already but for me, it was something that never crossed my mind, yet still, that wasn’t even the mind-blowing element. My mind exploded when, pondering this new discovery, Psalm 103 came dancing into my thoughts, not every verse – verse 1, verse 2 and I thought nothing of it until, suddenly, skipping over several verses it came to rest on the one that says,

as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.

Verse twelve was the verse that catapulted me into praise mode. How could it not?

I had a brand-new understanding of what David was saying.

“As far as the east is from the west” is an endless, incalculable distance; it’s never-ending, immeasurably more than we can ever imagine, extending indefinitely beyond what we are able to fathom.

says the Lord: For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:10, 12 NRSVUE)

The author of Hebrews reiterates that same promise in Hebrews 10:17, which incidentally, is the repeating of a prophecy found in Jeremiah 31:34.

Beloved, God does not hold on to our sins, why are you holding on to the sins of others? If God can let go of our sins, remove them as far as the east is from the west, cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) and remember [our] sins no more, why are you holding on? What is your reason for not letting go?

Do you weaponize the sins of others to use against them? Because that’s exactly what some of us do. Even those of us who stand at pulpits.

And then there are those of you who keep replaying your own sins in your mind, living guilty and punishing yourself as if Jesus Christ never hung on the Cross.

As long as you keep remembering your sins and the sins of others, that God, in His love, compassion and mercy, has already completely forgiven, you are crucifying Christ again and again.

Why are you holding on? What is your reason for not letting go?

You know of God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness through His beloved Son Jesus, but haven’t you truly accepted it? If you had, then you would not be holding people’s sin over their heads and condemning them every chance you get.

Holding on to any sins without forgiving the perpetrator of said sins, yourself included, reveals a problem of love.

Holding on to any sins without forgiving the perpetrator of said sins, yourself included, is tantamount to a rejection of divine love.

Why are you holding on?

God has forgiven and forgotten our sins, so who are you to keep holding on to them?

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Why are you holding on?” ©2026 May 22, 2026