My Daily Devotional

Forgiveness

  "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

          Matthew 6:14-15

                    Today I want you to think about forgiveness, and whether you have not been able to forgive someone for something they may have done to harm you or hurt you in some way.  When we look at the life of Jesus we find that Peter betrayed Jesus three times, but Jesus forgave him.  In this same regard Jesus would have forgiven Judas for betraying Him as well had he lived.  The more I think about these scriptures I realize that God gave His only son to die on the cross for my sins, and that was the ultimate sacrifice He could have made for me.  When we are not able to forgive others when they have harmed us seems like such a small sacrifice compared to the sacrifice God made, and should seem so easy for us to be able to forgive someone who has harmed us so little.  As Christians we must get beyond our small hurts and begin to think about the forgiveness God has given us, and the sacrifice He made because we have sinned.  When someone hurts you and betrays you in the future, think about the scripture above, and the level of forgiveness God expects each of us to have for others.  It will change your way of thinking and it will change your lives.  The little hurts we suffer because someone has wronged us will seem so small as compared to the forgiveness God has given to us.  God gave His son to die on the cross for us, and forgave all our sins.  Would we give our son to die in this manner to forgive someone's sins?  This is what forgiveness is all about in God's eyes.