Free To ForgiveSample

Day 8

We may know we need to forgive. We may choose it too. And mean it. But we have to do it God’s way to be sure He has accepted our act of forgiveness and then canceled the assigned torment.

What must we do? What steps does God require?

When I first saw this, I returned to Matthew 18 with the assurance that hidden in all those verses must be the answer. Over and over again I read those verses, studying every word to find it. Before long, I had written on my notes the five specific requirements that Jesus revealed. Then I checked everywhere in the Bible that forgiveness was discussed and discovered Matthew 18 had all of them. Five steps in black and white. They always had been there, but somehow they never registered in me as they did now.

Jesus’ words “until he should pay all that was due to him” set me free. When I met God’s five requirements, then I would be freed.

Requirement 1: Open your heart to forgive.

So My Heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. (Matt. 18:35)

Jesus tells us to start where the problem of unforgiveness begins—the heart.

Forgiving from our “head”—just thinking the thoughts—isn’t true forgiveness. Neither is forcing ourselves to choose forgiveness, forgiving from the “will.” Only forgiving from the heart is powerful enough to end our torment. Why? Because you were not hurt in your will or mind, at least not centrally.

You were hurt in your heart.

That’s where the infection breeds. That’s what is festering. That’s what needs healing. To open it requires your head and your will too, but the first step is to open up your heart.

This is an excerpt from The Freedom Factor: Finding Peace by Forgiving Others… and Yourself, by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson with Mark E. Strong. Used by permission.