Forgiveness Unlocks Love — Christian Version
The nature of human beings is to take revenge when someone hurts us.
We generally want an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and it’s not in our nature to forgive.
Forgiveness takes real effort because it goes against how we instinctively feel.
The Lord’s Prayer does not say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we try to forgive those who trespass against us.”
It says, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
We reap what we sow.
We forgive to be forgiven.
It’s easy to forgive people for small harms they have done to us.
But to be at peace, we must also forgive the bigger harms they have done to us, even if that at first seems impossible.
If we do not forgive others who have harmed us, we will always carry a negative chain inside us that links us to them.
Having a negative link to others may cause them to harm us even more in the future.
Forgiveness breaks the ties we have to them, freeing us of them—and them of us.
Our forgiveness of others heals us.
By not forgiving others who have harmed us, we are punishing ourselves.
As Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
Our desire to punish ourselves comes from our guilt over the harms we have done to others.
We need to forgive ourselves too.
Forgiving ourselves frees us from our own guilt, self-punishment, and self-sabotage.
We must forgive ourselves for trespassing against ourselves.
Unconditional forgiveness of others, and of ourselves, enables our ability to love others and ourselves unconditionally.
Forgiveness of others and ourselves unlocks our ability to love unconditionally.
First, we must unconditionally forgive others who selfishly hurt us in the past, which will release our anger and resentment.
Second, we must forgive ourselves for selfishly hurting others in the past, which will remove the guilt we carry for the pain we have caused others.
That guilt keeps us in hell with no peace or serenity.
Forgiveness releases our anger, hate, and guilt, which are blocking us from loving others unconditionally.
How do we forgive others and ourselves?
The only thing we need is the willingness to do it.
The greatest first step is to become open to forgiving others.
Then, when a thought comes into your head about individuals whom you dislike, hate, or resent, say to them in your mind or out loud, “I completely forgive you (mention their name); I break the chain of hate that links me to you; may peace and love be with you; you are free; and I am free.”
When thoughts of those people come up again, say in your mind or out loud, “I have forgiven you; bless you; and may peace and love be with you.”
If you repeat that last sentence every time the people come up in your mind in the future, you will find that some point all your hatred, resentment, and dislike have disappeared completely, and your forgiveness of them is complete.
Next, forgive yourself for harming yourself in any way.
Repeat to yourself, “I forgive you (say your full name); may peace and love be with me; I am free.”
Afterward, if thoughts of past guilt come up again, say, “I have forgiven myself for that; may peace and love be with me; I am free.”
You will find that you have forgiven yourself, and no longer sabotage or punish yourself, or create limitations in your life.
You have set others and yourself free.
Human nature is revengeful, and when someone attacks us, love and forgiveness are not our natural responses.
Hate, anger, and resentment hold you back from loving others.
Forgiveness removes the hate, anger, and resentment within you.
Jesus died on the cross to teach us the most important lesson that we need to evolve, which is to forgive those who trespass against us.
Jesus, the most loving and healing person who ever walked on the planet, forgave those who crucified Him.
By doing that, He was the ultimate example of forgiving others under any circumstances.
After He was nailed to a cross for no good reason of His own making, He forgave those who did that to Him.
In his pain as He was hanging on the cross, He asked God to “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus expects us to learn and practice what He taught by example, which is to forgive those who trespass against us.
That does not mean forgiving some and not others; it means forgiving everyone who trespasses against us—including ourselves.
Then, and only then, can we unconditionally love others.
Until we forgive others completely, we are separate from God’s unconditional love.
The hate, resentment, and guilt in our hearts block God’s love coming through us.
That hate, resentment, and guilt are only removed by our unconditional forgiveness of others and ourselves.
Then, and only then, are we open to unite with God’s love by surrendering our will to His.
That allows God’s unconditional spirit of love to flow through us to others and ourselves.
God is love.
Because God is love, and the love we have given comes back to us, we come to understand that the returned love is actually God’s spirit of love being revealed to us.
Unconditionally forgiving others and ourselves, which enables unconditional love, is the only way to evolve spiritually.
The entire reason that God had Jesus sacrifice Himself was to teach us how to forgive others under any circumstances.
Forgiving those who trespass against us, including ourselves, allows us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can then, and only then, be saved and born again, to experience happiness, peace, and joy in this life.
As you forgive others and yourself, you are opening the channel for God’s love, wisdom, directions, and guidance to flow through you and back to you from others and within yourself.
As you forgive others and yourself more and more, you can love other people and yourself more and more, and then God reveals Himself to you more and more through others you love.
The more consistently you love others, the more God reveals Himself to you because God is love.
Unconditional forgiveness and love solve, cure, and heal every problem between people.
Matthew 6: 14-15 states: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NLT).
John 20:23 states: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (NLT).
What we give is what we get.
Forgive to be forgiven.
Unconditionally forgive and love everyone you encounter.