Matthew 6:12 “Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others.”

This was the first time God, through Jesus, instructed mankind to forgive others. Jesus reinforces forgiveness all throughout His ministry. Prior to forgiveness, mankind was instructed to penalize a person for their wrongdoing. A lot of times, the penalty was death (Exodus 21). Now, Jesus is building a foundation of grace and mercy within us by teaching forgiveness.

When we forgive, we’re totally depending on God to right the wrong. We’re not trying to get even and handle it ourselves. We’re trusting God to compensate us for someone else’s errors. If God says vengeance is Mine and He’ll fight for us, our forgiveness of others gives God permission to intervene on our behalf Rom. 12:19).

There’s no need to remain with unforgiveness in our hearts. It damages us and does us no good. Unforgiveness feeds our pride. That pride is the source of destruction in our lives (Prov. 16:18).

So whether they’re alive or dead, in close proximity to us or we haven’t seen them since the incident, let’s forgive others. Because it deceptively makes us feel good remain in unforgiveness, the only one who’s saying it’s hard is our flesh. Our born-again spirits understand the benefits of forgiveness and realize we should forgive others as God has forgiven us. Forgive them.