You Must Forgive!

Jesus said something shocking in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said something that should make us do a double take when reading the Bible. He said something that, if we take seriously, it should make us examine our entire lives. What did He say? “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15) In other words, if we don’t forgive others, God is not going to forgive us. Jesus makes this clear in His statement, and it should shock us. It should make us evaluate our hearts. 

We Have Cried Out to God to Forgive Us.

Before we discuss why we must forgive others, let's talk about our relationship with God. A Christian is someone who has realized their sin has eternally separated them from God and that they have no way to save themselves. The Bible teaches that there is no amount of good works we can do to work off our sins. The Good News is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins. On the cross, He stood in our place and received what we should have gotten, the wrath of God. So if we are in Christ, our conversion must have started with us crying out to God for mercy and asking Him to forgive us based on what His Son did on the cross. The Good News is that God is merciful, and He will grant forgiveness to anyone who comes in faith to Christ.

Forgive as We Have Been Forgiven 

As Christians, we base our entire standing with God on His forgiveness towards us. In turn, we should be the most merciful people on the planet toward others. We have realized what great lengths to which God has gone to forgive us. It only makes sense that those who have been forgiven should themselves forgive others.

When It’s Our Turn to Forgive, and We Don’t

However, the truth is that there are many people who, though they have come to God for forgiveness, absolutely refuse to forgive others. How does God feel about that? Jesus told a story to tell us how he feels about it.  In Matthew 18 Jesus told a parable of a man who owed a king a great debt.  The man could not pay and begged the king to show him mercy.  The king agreed that he should be merciful, so he forgave the man’s debt.   However, the same man went out and found someone who owed him money and demanded payment. The other man begged for mercy asking for more time to pay his debt, but the man who was just forgiven by the king would not. The news traveled back to the king that the man he had forgiven would not forgive another man’s debt. The king was furious!  He rebuked him saying “should not you have had mercy on your fellow-servant, as I had mercy on you?’” (Matthew 18:33) The king then threw him into prison until he could pay all his debt.  The point of the parable is that once God has shown you mercy by forgiving you, you had better show others that same mercy by forgiving them.

The Real Issue: What Refusing to Forgive Others Says About Us

Why would a man who received forgiveness of a great debt refuse to forgive another man his debt? The answer is that the man was not truly repentant in his heart. He just wanted to get out of a jam. When he got out of the jam, he went back to being his old miserable self. In the same way, people who call themselves Christians expose their hearts when they have a chance to show others mercy by forgiving them but refuse to do so. If you realize just how much God did for you by showing you mercy, you should jump at the chance to show mercy to others. How can we who cried “Mercy, Lord!” and received it, not do anything but lavish mercy on others? If you refuse to show mercy and forgive others, it may show that you never really repented and turned to Jesus.  Maybe you weren’t genuine, but you just wanted out of a jam?   Don’t be like the man in the parable. Instead be exceedingly generous in showing mercy to others because God was to you!