“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15
Forgiveness is something most people want to receive, but very few want to give. When someone has something done wrong to him he feels it is his right to demand justice.
Jesus puts a very strict rule in this area. He states that if you want to be forgiven by God the Father you must also forgive others.
To forgive someone is to release them from what was done or to permit what was done, to clear them of the wrong done. It is to no longer hold that person accountable for that action. It is to treat the action as though it never occurred.
Very often people will state that they forgive someone, but they will bring up that situation again and again as an example of how that person had done wrong. Often it comes out as stating you remember when you last did this type statement. This is not true forgiveness. Forgiveness is to release and forget the wrong.
Think about how much wrong you have done to God and against God. Most people, if they are honest with themselves, would not want to begin to count the number of ways they have done wrong to God just in this year alone. This even goes for the Christian believer, much less before they were a Christian.
God loved you while you were sinning against Him. Jesus died on the cross to forgive you of your sins while you were sinning against Him. If God can do this for you, why can you not forgive someone who has done something wrong to you?
When people do you wrong it is usually in cheating or a bad word stated, occasionally in physical wrong. Your sins against God put stripes on His back, a thorn on His head, and death on a cross. How much greater did you hurt Jesus, than that person hurt you?
Jesus stated that if you cannot forgive someone, then the Father will not forgive you. Notice that this is the choice God has made, it is not some fancy rule. He chooses not to forgive if you have not forgiven others. Not forgiving others is a sign your heart and life has not been fully given over to God. Give God your life and forgive others today.
I pray today that God will show you how much you have been forgiven; that you will love others enough to forgive them; that God will strengthen you by His Holy Spirit to forgive; and that God will use you to build His kingdom through your forgiving others.
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