Released when we Forgive!

Matthew 6:14-15 (New Living Translation)

¹⁴ “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Forgive and release those people that have wronged us! Are you serious? But they spread vicious rumors, they lied, they did this to me and I just can’t forget it, I certainly won’t forgive them! Does this sound familiar? I can tell you, it hits close to home with me. This is a hard thing for us to do, and in ourselves, it is impossible! First of all in the scriptures above, it sounds to me like there is a choice involved, it says “But if you refuse”, so we have to choose to forgive. In Him, we can forgive. If we don’t, God’s Word tells us He “will not” forgive us! Now that in itself should make us forgive and release that person in their offense against us. Will you remember for just a minute all the things God forgave you for when you came to him, when you confessed your sins to Him, being truly repentant! Did He forgive you, never to remember these things against you any more? I am so ashamed that sometimes I either forget or I am just being plain disobedient about what He did for me. He made a way for us, if it wasn’t possible or very important in our walk with Jesus, He wouldn’t have taught this to us. . Not forgiving them is not going to bring back the money or merchandise that was loaned or stolen, it won’t change any of those things that happened, but it will release us and them! We must choose to forgive and never forget as hard as we try, we will sin in the future. We need forgiveness from our Father, and we need to forgive others. This is Gods will for us! He commands us and then He gives us the ability to Love others. We are never told to do this by ourselves. Only through Him are all things possible! Blessings to your House!