One of the greatest teachings our Lord Jesus left us is love and forgiveness for our neighbor. The wonderful verses about forgiving others can help heal your heart and foster reconciliation with your brother or sister. Don't miss reading them.
Verses about forgiving others
We live surrounded by people in our day to day. Some of them are family, friends or co-workers and many other unknown people with whom we coincide.
We as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ must live according to the teachings of Jesus. Many times the people around us hurt us immensely with or without intention and it is normal and human to feel pain and even anger. However, we cannot allow this to take over our lives.
When we decide to let ourselves be carried away by resentment and pain, our hearts begin to harden, leading us to take revenge against others. This is what the King of kings and Lord of lords does not want us to achieve, because as it is written, his is the revenge.
Deuteronomy 36: 35
35 Mine is vengeance and retribution;
In due time his foot will slip,
Because the day of their affliction is near,
And what is prepared for them is rushed.
That is why we cannot let ourselves be dominated by these passions, but hand over our burden to Jesus Christ and seek in Him wisdom and true forgiveness, so as not to contaminate ourselves.
Throughout the word of God, we can find verses about forgiving others where the Lord reveals to us how to pray in these circumstances. Among which we can mention:
Ephesians 4: 32
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Col. 3: 13
13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Like these verses we can enter thousands of more verses, where we are exhorted to forgive in order to be forgiven and thus find the grace and favor of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.
If we analyze a little what is shown to us in the verses presented here, we can realize that Jesus did not tell us that we would not be offended. Neither did he promise us that some actions or words that were directed at us would not hurt us.
Lucas 6: 37
37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Mattheww 7:7-8
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”
What it does teach us is that in the face of pain, anger and pride, we show mercy just as He had with us and true forgiveness and love for our neighbor. We cannot allow ourselves to be overcome by evil. On the contrary, we must overcome evil with good.
In addition, we must keep in mind that the supreme commandment that was left to us is that we will love the Lord our God and our neighbor as ourselves.
Mark 11: 25
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
When God sees our contrite and humiliated hearts, He forgives us. He lets our faults pass and throws them to the bottom of the sea. However, just as he did with David, his actions brought serious consequences.
We also speak of the action of us forgiving our neighbors. A true Christian knows that forgiveness is not an emotion or feeling, it is a decision. Forgiveness often requires the intervention of God. For this reason, we Christians who strive to do the will of God must try not to be governed by hatred or resentment.
To choose is to approach God and ask for the strength to forgive. Forgiveness is the most powerful weapon of the virtuous woman. Next we will refer you to several verses about forgiveness. In these verses the Lord exhorts us to forgive.
Matthew 6: 12
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Mattheww 7:7-8
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The forgiveness
Forgiveness is one of the main characteristics of our Creator. If we go back to the beginning of creation to our times, we can really validate that our rebellions have been constant, abominable and hurtful to Jehovah.
Throughout the history of humanity, human actions guided by sin have really underestimated the mercy and love of the Most High.
However, in the face of all this rebellion and these abominations against the Creator, He, out of his great love for us, wanted to give us an absolute and eternal forgiveness. This forgiveness we obtained by the grace and work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Ephesians 1: 7
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace,
With this immense act of love and mercy, he does not ask us for additional sacrifices, nor does he offer us conditional forgiveness. When we acknowledge his beloved son and repent with all our hearts, He blots out our sins and rebellions forever.
If we turn our gaze to that moment of eternal love, we can remember that Jesus was: beaten, insulted, mocked, judged, crucified and died being innocent. All this so that you and I could approach the throne of grace without and have an intimate communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
So, we could conclude that forgiveness is not an emotion or some feeling that can be manifested in our daily lives. It is a decision that we as individuals decide whether or not to make.
In many cases, forgiveness is not so easy because of the offense or the damage that could have really been caused to us. For this reason, it is necessary to enter into prayer and ask the Lord to cleanse us of all resentment and help us to forgive.
Making this decision is the most accurate and powerful for our spiritual and earthly life. It is a process that can take time, but seeing the King of kings and Lord of lords, that our intention to forgive is real, helps us in our weakness.
The joy, the peace, the tranquility and the blessings that will be manifested over our life for forgiving, will be much more wonderful, great and powerful, than living under resentment and bitterness.
After finishing this article on verses about forgiving others, we invite you to continue delighting in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ with the following link: What are the 3573 promises of the Bible?
Finally, so that you continue to grow spiritually about forgiving your neighbor, I share this audiovisual for you to enjoy.