FORGIVENESS

 Matt 6:14

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Jesus was telling people how to forgive and why they should. Forgiveness is reciprocal: when you do it, your heavenly Father will forgive you; if you don't, your heavenly Father will not forgive you.

That means Jesus is encouraging us to start the move first: forgive them first so that our heavenly Father will see that we have done our own part, and he will see what we have done and forgive us our own trespasses because, in one way or another, we also have offended someone or God himself.

So Jesus is now telling us the secret of how to obtain forgiveness from God because it's when we forgive those that have sinned against us that God will see the sincerity of our heart and forgive us our own sin. Meaning, forgiving someone actually doesn't mean you are doing that person a favour but yourself, because when you forgive anybody that has offended you, you are actually asking God to forgive you your own sin.

When God forgives you your sins, eternal life comes in, but when your sins are not forgiven, it might lead to hell. (Matt 6:15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.") And if your father in heaven has not forgiven you, meaning you will not have a share in the kingdom of God. So, Irrespective of the offences committed by the offenders against us, or how deeply they might have vehemently or rabidly hurt us, we ought to try as much as possible to forgive them for our own good, not for theirs.

Yes! I know it is not easy to forgive, even though a lot of people offend others on purpose, some unknowingly, some out of anger. Inasmuch as some of these offences are unpardonable, but whatever it may be the offence, let us listen to the instruction and advice given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive them, in order to obtain our heavenly Father's forgiveness so that we can inherit the kingdom of God. It is not worth it that, because of one offender whom we refuse to forgive, we end up in hell.

Also, unforgiveness can hinder prayers; that is why the book of (Mark 11:25 says,  "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”) So we don't need to allow our prayers to be hindered because of our inability to forgive people. To err is human and to forgive is divine; it takes grace to forgive. We need to ask God to give us the grace to forgive, or we can not do it on our own. I have seen people saying or telling people, “I will never forgive you, or even though I forgive you, I will never forget what you did to me or what that person did to them.” Even I, before, found it difficult to forgive people easily, but when God revealed to me the deep meaning of forgiveness, I then found the grace to forgive my offenders because, in one way or another, I have also offended people.

So, let's bear with each other and learn to forgive as written in Colossians 3:13: Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Amen.

###ThewordofGodwithCelinaJoseph###

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Prayer Points:

1. Jehovah God, please give me the spirit of forgiveness.

2. Heavenly Father, please forgive me my sins. 

3. Spirit of unforgiveness in me, die by fire, cos you can't hold back from going to heaven.