Do You Forgive Others?

      We are called to forgive the sins of others; that is, it is in the 'Our Father' forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  It is a good thing to forgive our neighbor.  We ought to forgive because Jesus forgave His enemies at the Cross.  We ought to take His example.  We are to forgive people in Christ or people outside of Christ.  The Lord blesses those who forgive.  Forgiveness of others is a description of belonging to Christ, but it is not a continual allowance for them to destroy you.  We ought to keep our distance from people who receive our forgiveness but continue to sin against us with license.  It is true that we ought to forgive 7 times 70.  We should be careful regarding the company we keep.  Here are some writers on forgiveness.

C.J Mahaney wrote on forgiveness,

Because we are the most forgiven people in the world, we should be the most forgiving people in the world.

Donald Guthrie wrote,

Mercy, like the regions of space, has no limit, and as these stretch away before the traveler who looks out from the farthest star, so the loftiest intellect and the largest heart can discover no bounds to mercy.  Like our Father in heaven, we are to forgive without stint, forgiving as we expect to be forgiven.

D.L. Moody wrote,

Forgiveness is not that stripe which says, "I will forgive, but not forget." It is not to bury the hatchet with the handle sticking out of the ground, so you can grasp it the minute you want it.

James Dunn wrote,

It is the experience of having been forgiven (by Christ) which releases the generous impulses to forgive others (Matt. 18:23-35), just as it is the refusal to forgive which betrays the reality that forgiveness has not been received, that the individual has not even recognized the need for forgiveness (Matt. 6:14-15).  A community has hope of holding together and growing together only when the need for forgiveness is recognized on each side where fault has been committed and only when forgiveness is both offered and received.