Forgive

 Is it hard for you to forgive others? Have you realized that forgiveness actually helps you more then them? Read on...

Matthew 6:14-15 

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

God takes it very seriously when we don't forgive people for what they did to us. 

Ephesians 4:31-32 

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

As long as you can't forgive others, your heart is hard. I don't know why anyone would want to have a hard heart, except Satan tells us when we are hard, no one will hurt us again. But then we hurt others. It is better to stay tender and kind. It might feel too vulnerable to be tender, but you will feel better about yourself if you remain kind no matter what. 

1 John 1:9 

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Unforgiveness is a sin. We can easily think we are justified staying angry and not forgiving someone, but it is never ok to stay angry at someone forever. God wants us to let it go. "Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and realizing that was yourself."

Mark 11:25 

"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

God says, "Let the past go. If you stay hung up on the past you cannot have a great future. Don't worry what someone did to you in the past. That doesn't always mean they will do that again. Let it all go. Move on, and be happy. Don't let the past haunt you anymore. Set yourself free from all that anger. Be at peace. I will help you to be at ease. But let it go, the baggage, the resentment, the hatred. No one deserves to be hated forever."

Ephesians 4:32 

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

The more grateful we are for all that God has forgiven us for, the easier it will be to forgive others. 

Luke 17:3-4 

"Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Why did God say this? So that our relationship are never permanently ruined. So many people burn bridges forever because they aren't willing to forgive others. They turn stone cold and cut people out because they got hurt by them. If you keep doing that forever, you will have no one around you anymore. You will be alone forever. Who wants to be alone forever? Forgive others. Even if you think they don't deserve it, you deserve to have more friends. If you refuse to forgive all your friends, you won't have anymore friends, and that is a sad life. 

Matthew 18:21-22 

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."

You don't just do this for the other person, but for yourself. You don't find many people in life that you might consider a "brother" or someone that feels really close to you. If they offend you, let it go so that you can keep your friend that feels close like a brother. What is the point of robbing yourself of a great friend because you can't let go of things they did? 

Decided to forgive whoever you need to, and give yourself peace from your own anger. God bless!