The water backs up and floods the landscape. Brush and debris accumulate. Nothing gets washed downstream. Everything clogs up. A sodden mess.
Trees begin to rot and eventually death happens.
When we deliberately hold back forgiveness, we build a dam that holds back the flow of God's mercy from sweeping through our lives and washing away the junk that accumulates within. Bitterness, guilt, sullenness, a brooding spirit, dark attitudes, and even demonic oppressions begin to gather. Joy rots away. Christian freedom and the liberating sense of being a child of the heavenly king gets all clogged up and muddied. We begin to rot, spiritually and emotionally.