Forgiveness: Why Forgive?

Forgiveness is so important to the heart of God. This week we are exploring this topic more in depth and hopefully growing in practicing forgiveness in our everyday lives. Why forgive? Is it really that important? Does it even matter? Our forgiveness seems to be directly connected to God’s grace being poured out to us. In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12, Jesus says that part of how we should pray is to say, “and forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus goes on to repeat himself in Matthew 6:14, saying, “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.” Clearly forgiveness is an important practice for any follower of Jesus. And forgiveness appears to be connected to the power of prayer. Look at Mark 11:22-25. In verses 22-24, Jesus suggests that prayers of faith can move mountains. We should never doubt when praying, believing we’ve received, speaking to the mountain through prayer into the heart of the sea whose deep waters can cover the highest mountain on earth. Then Jesus adds verse 25. He seems to suggest that a major force that can prevent mountain-moving, faith-filled prayers is unforgiveness. Bitterness. To have our prayers answered should be a strong motivator to get rid of unforgiveness and bitterness, doesn’t it? We all daily need God’s grace to survive. Unforgiveness seems to stop that flow of grace to our hearts. Our need for that daily grace should be motivation enough to forgive others fully, freely, and completely. Somehow when we obey God and forgive others, it attracts God’s miracle-working power. As we release offense and bitterness, it makes way for God to fight our battles for us. And let me tell you from experience. He does a much better job fighting for us than we ever could!