Week 5, day 4: How does forgiveness affect us, as well as the people we forgive?

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (NIV)

“Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.” (Good News)

This week, we are praying along with the Watts family - parents Jen and Rick with children Abbie and Nathan.

Rick says:

We discussed as a family whether forgiveness affects us as well as the person we forgive. When we hold onto past hurts, resentment grows inside us like a poison. When we forgive others, it frees us too. However, just because we forgive someone, it doesn’t mean that our relationship with them remains unchanged. If someone hurts us and isn’t sorry about this, then we may not be able to trust them as much in the future.

Jen says:

This reminds me of the parable of the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18. The master cancels the servant’s huge debt when he comes begging to him, yet the servant hounds another servant for a far smaller debt. Whatever wrongs anyone else has done to us, it is nothing compared to what we have done to offend God. He is totally pure and holy, and our thoughts and actions can be impure, full of greed and self-serving.

Yet God graciously overlooks all our flaws and loves us as though we were as pure and deserving of heaven where all is perfect as his perfect son. If he can do that for us, then we can forgive others.