Forgiveness is a Promise

14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
Matthew 6:14 ESV

Here is one of my FAVORITE promises in the Bible. Matthew, one of the dudes who followed Jesus around eating with him and listening to him and talking to him and joking with him (yes, I’m sure they did, these stories for whatever reason just didn’t make it into the Bible), that same Matthew heard Jesus say these words and wrote them down for us. Jesus promises us FORGIVENESS, but there’s a catch, an action step for us to take in order to experience this forgiveness… we must forgive OTHERS.

Forgiveness = Forgiven

And on the flip-side…

15but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:15 ESV

Here is another promise, just not a positive one.

Unforgiveness = Unforgiven

Wow! I don’t want that for me, for you, for my kids, for anyone I know and for anyone I’ve yet to meet! The devil is a LIAR and he’s going to try and manipulate your past hurts and current pain and convince you that you somehow need revenge. Tell the devil to SHUT UP and listen to God instead! The devil wants you to remain stuck in it. God wants you set free from it.

Are you holding on to unforgiveness? Who are you struggling to forgive? What circumstance in your life are you allowing to continue hurting you? What needs to change?