Prayer
Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:41-42
May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, and the salvation you have promised;
then I can deal properly with those who harm me, for I trust in your word. Amen.
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness of the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.
Reading
These are some of the toughest words for us to accept from the lips of Jesus:
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus taught on this principle a few times, thereby leaving us in no doubt. If we choose to deal with other people with a spirit of vengeance and unforgiveness, we have positioned ourselves to be unable to receive God’s forgiveness when we need it. But, if we acknowledge how much unmerited grace and forgiveness we have received from God in our own lives, and treat others accordingly, we remain positioned in the free flow of God’s grace. Later in the year we will read a parable that makes the same point in Matthew 18.
I suspect Jesus presented this truth to His disciples (and us) so bluntly in Matthew 5 to ensure that we have no wriggle room. He loves us and He longs for us to live in the freedom that only forgiveness can bring. To hold something against someone in a spirit of unforgiveness keeps us bound as a slave to our past and its hurts, and keeps us from moving forward in freedom. It causes a stronghold of bitterness. It locks us in a state of anger, hatred or heartache, and it locks out God’s joy, love, and fellowship. We will be in bondage. And God never wants this for us! So He prescribes the only way to freedom – to choose to forgive. To choose not to hold the other person’s sin against them (or over their head) but to release them and let them go. Of course that does not mean that we need to trust them or stay in close relationship with them. We are allowed to protect ourselves from future hurt. But only forgiveness will set us free to truly live in the free flow of God’s grace towards us!
It is not that what the person did to us is unimportant, or that God does not take it seriously or feel compassion for the pain we have suffered. God is the Judge of all the earth and He will deal with those who have wronged us in due course, in accordance with His will and ways. BUT, in the meantime, He loves us and longs for us to be set free. So He calls us to choose to forgive, because the power to enter into that freedom lies squarely in our hands.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ: I choose to forgive those who sin against me – even when it is hard!
‘Lord, forgive my trespasses, I pray, and grant me Your amazing and supernatural grace to forgive those who have trespassed against me. I choose to release them now. Amen
Dave's Diary 
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