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And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. – Matthew 6:12 What is the hardest thing we have to do in life? It is no understatement that when you totally forgive someone it could be one of the hardest things you do in your christian life. Our Lord includes forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer as its one of the struggles that we will all have to deal with in life. Forgiveness is not an option but it is essential in our lives as even our Lord says that God will forgive us in relation to how we forgive others. Unfaithfulness, abuse, hurt, slander, and hundreds of other ways one can offend and cause one to have unforgiveness against someone. Forgiveness is a deliberate choice consciously to release feelings of resentment, hurt and vengeance towards another, though they do not deserve it. Not forgiving someone in your life can even cause physical problems, mental problems and definitely spiritual problems. Releasing someone in forgiveness is not holding that sin or hurt against another. To forgive is to fully release someone and bless them though they should be punished, or you could exact vengeance. Only when we forgive we can bless someone and pray for them to help them. But you say, “how can I fully forgive someone? and even bless them, they deserve to be corrected for their behaviour.” In famous chapter on love, we are told that “it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5). God’s desire for us is to forgive as Christ forgave us, that means to not hold sins against others and to bless them as our Lord blesses us. Vengeance is the Lords, but we should never wish even those who have hurt us, to be punished by the Lord and even be sent to hell. Forgiveness gives us joy and peace. When we dwell on grudges against others our body is affected physically and we start to have all sorts of problems of health. Forgiveness restores relationships, marriages and situations in the body of Christ. When we totally forgive someone we do not need to speak about it to others. Most people do not realize the extent they have hurt someone and therefore do not even understand they need to seek forgiveness. Therefore seek to forgive people privately even just before the Lord, give the situation, person, sin to the grace of God and never mention it to the other. Such releasing of debts and feelings to the Lord will bring great growth in your relationship with the Lord and will help you keep protected from the attacks of the devil. C.S. Lewis says, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” Are you holding onto that terrible inexcusable thing, what hurt are you holding onto? Fully forgive, bless and you will find you will be walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

In the Gospel of Matthew,Jesus says: "Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against9 the Spirit will not be forgiven.10 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come." what is meant by "in this age or in the one to come" ? Does this mean that people who actively reject Christianity and even encourage others to do so,lose the possibility of being saved forever? Does "The age to come" mean our present age?

I have experienced true forgiveness before and it is very hard to do. It was not something that had hurt my child but it was something that I had a hard time dealing with

Have you ever been falsely accused of something? I know people who have been falsely accused and have spent many years in prison for crimes they did not commit. How would you feel if it were you? You can never recover your good name when you are sentenced for a crime. You are branded and marked for life. It is a good thing that life is temporary and we have a final judgment with the true judge. Once He passes judgment it if forever. But his judgment is perfect and ours isn’t. Jesus was falsely accused. His court proceedings were against every law and custom of the time. He was whisked away in the night, accused by a kangaroo court, beaten, and crucified. All were false accusations and the proceedings were illegal. However, His death on the cross served a higher purpose. His death served to take away the sins of the world. “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His Mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” Isaiah 53:7-8 We very rarely believe people when they tell us they did not commit the crime they were accused of, but I believe these people are in good company because Jesus was crucified for crimes he didn’t commit. Jesus forgave us for the ultimate of sin of crucifying him when he was falsely accused. So why are people in churches today so reluctant to forgive people society calls “felons?” Is it because the world has somehow convinced us that felons are unforgivable sinners or are we forgetting that Jesus died for all? Everyone’s sin can be forgiven and there is no such thing as an unredeemable sinner. We as Christians should be the example and forgive as Jesus did.