Why Should I Forgive Others?
List by Ami Hendrickson
“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). When teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus included extending human forgiveness in His sample prayer. More than 30 Bible verses address forgiving people who have wronged us. Praise God, He never gives us a command without giving us the strength to do it.
True repentance deserves forgiveness
Luke 17:3-4
Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.
Forgiveness is an act of kindness
Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
I forgive others because Christ forgave me
Colossians 3:12-13
Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
Forgiveness is good for a community
2 Corinthians 2:7-8, 10
So that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow. Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him. Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ.
True forgiveness has no limits
Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.”
As God’s child, I can forgive even the unrepentant
Matthew 5:43-45
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
