“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
There are a couple of passages in the Bible where it makes me wonder – Is he serious? What if he really means it?
This is one of those passages.
A few things about this:
- That we are to forgive is a given. And we are to forgive who have sinned against us. This is not about who’s at fault or who is wrong. We have been sinned against. The other party is guilty. AND Jesus expects us to forgive them
- So much so when we do not forgive, Jesus says that we will not be forgiven either.
- Yikes!!!
Even when we forgive others, the pain, the scars, and the residual discomfort are all still there. Even after forgiving others, all this remains. The past is still the past. Nothing has changed.
But, when we forgive others what changes is our future. While forgiving others cannot change our past it can absolutely change our future. What God is more interested in is our future.
Lastly, forgiving others does not mean that we do not hold people accountable for their actions. That would be irresponsible. There are consequences that cannot be reversed even though the individual can be forgiven.
The reason why Jesus takes forgiveness so seriously is because your future is tied to your capacity to forgive.
Praxis: Faith in Action 