So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. - Luke 17:3
I remember when I was a younger believer in the Lord. Having just experienced the forgiveness and life offered in Jesus Christ and spending many hours in prayer in relationship with the Lord everything seemed so well. It was months that I spent in my room reading the Word of God and simply enjoying the Lord. When I ran across a passage on forgiveness I really thought hard within myself if I had any unforgivenness towards anyone, and I did not. Then I thought to myself: "How could anyone hold hurts in their hearts towards them as Jesus has forgiven us all our hurts towards him and nothing would compare to that!" Of course since then I have struggled a few times to forgive but always came to realize I have no reason to hold anything against anyone as God forgives me. Man sinning against man is forgivable but man sinning against the holy Creator of the universe that is a travesty and unforgivable. But God in his mercy has forgiven us freely in His Son Jesus. Praise God.
Our Lord's teaching on this subject is plentiful in the word of God. He shared many times with his disciples about forgiveness. He tells us clearly if someone hurts us and comes back with repentance we are to fully forgive them. That will never make a wrong right but we are never to hold sins against others. Even if someone does not seek us to apologize we must release them so we ourselves are not in bondage and tell God that we forgive them. Living in a prison is a very sad place to live. Many believers live in a prison of unforgiveness even when the abuser had repented the abused still hold onto the hurt. Only Jesus can take away our pain and give us the grace to truly forgive. We have all offended at some point and in the end we have all pierced and hurt the Son of God Himself. Let us forgive today and release others and ourselves not life in bondage.
