And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . . For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will give you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
MATTHEW 6:12, 14-15 (CSB)

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Forgiveness is not a One-Way street. Forgiven people are forgiving people. 

Jesus said in Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.” This is as true for forgiveness as it is for our financial status. 

Those of us who have been forgiven much are to be the most forgiving. Jesus tells a rather interesting parable in this regard in Matthew 18:21-35. 

We are to pay forward forgiveness. We are to live with the disposition of being hard to offend. 

I made an offhand remark in a feeble attempt at humor one day in a gathering of leaders. My remark made one of my peers look bad. It wasn’t terrible. I wasn’t particularly insulting. My observation was the kind of thing people do all the time. However, it was also the kind of thing I am working to root out of my life. 

As soon as the meeting was over, I went to the man I had used as the foil of my joke and asked his forgiveness. His reply was, “For what? It is already forgiven and forgotten.” That man is every bit that gracious. He has always treated me with more kindness than I deserved. 

Somebody is going to get on your nerves soon. Someone is going to push your buttons. Forgive as God has forgiven you. Keep no record of wrongs. Move forward with kindness and grace. Life is ever so much less stressful when we are hard to offend and when we do not unnecessarily offend others. 

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I will forgive others as abundantly as God has forgiven me.

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Our Father, I will never have to forgive anyone as much as you have had to forgive me. Make me as gracious toward others as you have been and are to me. Empower me to master the grace of forgiveness. Amen.