Hello

Jesus said we must forgive others if we want to be right with our loving heavenly Father.  Indeed, Jesus said our loving Father will not forgive us if we do not forgive others.

“For if you forgive others their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your offences.” (Matthew 6:14-15.  See also Luke 11:4)

“Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your offences.” (Mark 11:25)

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37)

 

Jesus also said his followers were to keep on forgiving:

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church offends against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22.  See also Luke 17:3-4).

Jesus follows these words by telling the parable of the unmerciful servant who was thrown into prison by his master (Matthew 18:23-35), finishing with these plain, and rather scary, words:

“So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

 

What if I find it difficult to forgive someone who’s done something to hurt me?   If we are having difficulty forgiving, the best thing to do is pray that our loving heavenly Father will enable us to forgive.  He wants us to forgive, so he will answer that prayer.  He may not answer it immediately, but if we keep praying we will see that he will answer that prayer.  One practical thing I’ve learned is to ask myself whether I could have done the same thing that the other person has done to me.  Usually, when I look deep into my heart, I find I could have done that same thing.  We are all selfish.  We all make mistakes.  We all hurt someone sometimes.

 

We forgive others because this is what Jesus told us to do.  But there is another good reason for doing so – forgiving others is good for our own mental health.  When we truly forgive others, from our hearts, we let go of any anger or bitterness we feel towards them.  So, our loving Father wants us to forgive others because it is good for our health.  Our loving Father is a good parent.  He loves us, his human children, and wants us to be healthy.

 

While he was being crucified, Jesus set the supreme example of what it means to forgive others:

“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)

 

May our loving, heavenly Father encourage and strengthen us to forgive.  Pray that he will.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

 

Related articles

What did Jesus say about loving others?

What did Jesus say about judging or condemning others?

What did Jesus say about being humble?

 

 

 

 

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish) العربية (Arabic) বাংলাদেশ (Bengali) हिन्दी (Hindi) Indonesia (Indonesian) 日本語 (Japanese) اردو (Urdu) Русский (Russian) 한국어 (Korean) 繁體中文 (Chinese (Traditional)) Deutsch (German) Français (French) Italiano (Italian)