Forgiving Others – Matthew 6:12 – Highway of Holiness

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

An unforgiving spirit, ugly and destructive, dominates its host. Not being content to dwell alongside the fruit of the Spirit, it desires supremacy, so it can decimate its captive.

Being the antithesis of love, the refusal to forgive makes us impotent as champions of the Good News, for we cannot draw others to the Lord crippled by anger and depleted of joy. We cannot speak with zeal of God’s love if we, by withholding forgiveness and sacrificing the peace Christ offers,[1] harbor hatred against anyone. Thus encumbered, we are unable to serve the Lord with true efficacy.

Therefore, if you want to live in the joy of the Lord and to be fruitful for His kingdom, invite Him into your heart’s deepest crevices to expose even the tiniest remnant of hostility toward another, and should He uncover malice, ask Him to pull it out by its roots. Heed His command to bear no evil thoughts against your neighbor, and ask Him to transform your heart so you may be free of feelings that dishonor Him and harm you. “Put on a heart of compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with others as you forgive them,”[2] knowing that as you do so, your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins.[3] Shed your unforgiving spirit, and be free. Walk with the exuberance that fills a tender, unburdened heart, and lift up your soul to the Lord who is good, ready to forgive, and abundant in loving-kindness to all who call upon Him.[4]

Consider your heart’s condition, and if unforgiving feelings bind you, forgive, without reserve, without demanding satisfaction. Write the names of your offenders and their offenses on a tablet and verbally forgive them, one by one, permanently, shedding your grievances against them, never to resurrect them again. Ask the Lord to reveal those you may have forgotten while beseeching Him to create a pure heart within you and to teach you to love as He loves you, without stipulation.[5] Once refreshed by the purification of forgiveness, stand firm, turning away the tempter should he seek reentry into the place swept clean.

Forgive, and enter into the hallowed place where Love resides. Extend grace to others, so you may understand the abundance of God’s grace to you.[6]

Wash me in the oil of forgiveness

Give me the freedom to receive

Cleansing from wrath and malice

That I may live what I believe

In Your mercy and Your kindness

Lead me to the holy place

Where finally my heart will know

The abundance of Your grace

Let me pursue Your purity

Set my eyes on things above

That I may live in victory