This is an excerpt from “The Bible in a Year: A 52-Week Journey Through God’s Word,” written by the Spiral Bible team.
Forgiveness is the decision to release others from the debt of their wrongs against us, reflecting God’s forgiveness of us in Christ. It frees both the forgiver and the forgiven, breaking cycles of bitterness and restoring relationships. Jesus’s sobering words about forgiveness being reciprocal reveal the serious connection between receiving and extending forgiveness. This isn’t about earning God’s forgiveness but about demonstrating that we understand its value. Like a stream that both receives and passes on water, we’re meant to be channels of forgiveness, not reservoirs.
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. [Matthew 6:14-15]
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