Am I continuing to forgive others so that God will continue to forgive me?

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

INSIGHT:  Do you realize that Jesus says right here that the only thing we need to do to go to hell, as a “Christian”, is to not forgive someone of their sins against us?  In all my years of public ministry, I would say that unforgiveness slays more Christians than any other sin.  As with most of the Bible and Christ’s teachings, forgiveness is a black or white issue.  If you forgive others, you are right.  If you withhold forgiveness, you are dead wrong, and you will be so for all of eternity.  There are no gray areas here.  A person whose sins are not forgiven cannot go to heaven (Lk 13:2-3, 34-35, Act 26:18, Col 1:13-14, 2:13, Heb 3:12-14, 10:26, Jam 5:20, 1 Jn 3:6-10, Rev 21:27). 

Forgiveness is not just some good self-help advice, or a recommendation for finding peace in your life (although that comes); it’s a demand from God.  To ask God’s forgiveness of your sins, and then to withhold forgiveness from someone HE made, and someone HE will judge, is wickedness on a much higher level than we realize, which is why the punishment for unforgiveness is so severe.

Unforgiveness is rooted in unbelief and mistrust of God.  It says to God, “I don’t believe you see.  I don’t believe you care.  I don’t believe your word; and I don’t trust you to ever bring justice, so I will create my own.  I will be the judge and I will now pronounce the sentence!

When we withhold forgiveness, we are not only distrusting God, but we are playing God.  Withholding forgiveness from someone, in whatever manner we choose, is our attempt at usurping God to create our own justice.  When we truly Trust God, we can forgive because we know He saw what they did to us, He loves justice, He loves us, and after we patiently wait, He will eventually pay pack all those that troubled us (2 Thes 1:6, 2 Tim 4:14). 

How can a Christian, who has no good thing in themselves, having been bought at the price of Christ’s blood, no longer belonging to himself, but to God, then turn and demand justice for themselves as if they were God?  That is why God will call that person a wicked servant! 

When we don’t forgive others, we are not continuing in God’s kindness, and we are in danger of being cut off (Rom 11:22)!  Do you see then how easily a person could lose their future inheritance of salvation, falling away from grace, by choosing not to forgive someone?  Jesus never said that a person who doesn’t forgive was never a true believer to begin with.  He said a believer who doesn’t forgive will not be forgiven themselves. 

Your forgiveness does not mean that what they did to you wasn’t wrong or evil, or that they won’t be punished.  It means you trust God’s perfect judgment and justice to eventually right that wrong, and that means you will not miss heaven as a wicked unforgiving servant, because you did God’s will to forgive.  – Mat 7:21

You don’t have to trust that person anymore, and it may not be wise to be around that person again, until and unless they repent, but let them go in your heart, turn them over to God for justice, and pray that God will grant them repentance from their sin.

Surely, you have seen the evil that has been done to me, by so many people over the years.  God has made examples out of many of them, for their unrepentant sin.  And yet, there is not one of them I wouldn’t welcome back into my heart, even with tears, upon their sincere repentance.  I don’t even feel any of them owe me anything, not even an apology, because what they meant for evil, God meant for so much good.  There would be no RelentlessHeart.com, had not so many people done so much evil to me, nor if I had not forgiven them all.  God does not bless disobedience!

Who makes you angry just hearing their name?  Who would you still like to see punished for what they did to you?  Who are you demanding restitution from?  Those are the people you MUST forgive and release to God, if you expect to have eternal life.  Do it now!