“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” - Matt 6:14-15.
We often fail to remember that the spirit of forgiveness is not simply a motion on our part to overlook the slights another has made against us. Forgiveness is so much more than that. Forgiveness is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of us. Without the fruit of the Holy Spirit actively effecting our spiritual lives we would be incapable of forgiveness!
Think about it - all nine fruits of the Spirit are required for true forgiveness of others: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23. Each one of these fruits are essential to us if we are to be truly forgiving. How could one not have the spirit of forgiveness given all the fruit of the Holy Spirit? But that isn’t all forgiveness means to us as Christians.
Which of us can boast of never having needed the forgiveness of others? Were it not for their forgiveness what miserable wretches we would be. Forgiveness is the balm that heals our hurts and our relationships damaged by careless words and actions. That is what happens when we forgive what others have done to us. By forgiving them we find ourselves at peace, while those who refuse to forgive continue to experience the pain and wince from the hurt of one trespass as though it were a legion of many.
When we forgive, God grants us compensation for the pain others have caused us. It becomes a blessing to us when we forgive those who have hurt us. By forgiving those around us we enjoy God’s heavenly blessing. And it is part of our repentance. In fact, forgiveness is so deeply entwined with true repentance that they are barely separable in the parable of the debtor in Matthew 18:23-35.
When we read the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew we see forgiveness at the core of the prayer. We see it as the prayer’s main “talking-point” in Matthew 6:12 - And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors. It is further intensified by Matthew 6:14-15, thus making it a pivotal requirement for our forgiveness by God.
Our ability and desire to forgive others through the Holy Spirit and God’s forgiveness to us, a result of His unconditional grace and love is a double-blessing by any standard.
May we always live in the spirit of forgiveness, both ours for others and that shed upon us by our merciful and loving God.
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