Live To Forgive and Be Forgiven

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-16

Forgiveness is not about agreeing to or approving of what the violator did to us. Forgiving others is about setting ourselves free. Forgiveness allows us to be free from not only the person but the acts that hurt us. 

It’s easy to continue harboring hard feelings against someone who hurt us, but that anger is like poison we ingest while trying to hurt someone else. God is very clear about His demand that we forgive others. He carries it a step further and declares that if we fail to forgive others, He will not forgive us. Talk about motivation to come into a position of humble surrender! No grudge I held was ever worth so much as to separate myself from God. 

So how does this relate to us, men? We will not, and I repeat, we will not ever know freedom from our past until we forgive those who have sinned against us. Forgiving is Freeing. 

Call To Action 

1. Write out 3 people whom you hold a grudge, hate, or anger toward. 
2. Write out in detail what each of those people did that hurt you. 
3. Write out their name, and the words, “I forgive you.”