When We Won’t Forgive

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” —Matthew 5:7

I’ve met many believers who find it difficult to accept and experience God’s love and forgiveness. One of the biggest reasons why is because they refuse to forgive others. Jesus’ words about unforgiveness are so stark and direct that we who are saved by grace yet unforgiving in our hearts find ourselves looking for loopholes, dodging the obvious, and trying to convince ourselves that He must have meant something less exacting. Certainly, He who knows how deep our hurt goes couldn’t possibly expect full forgiveness from us!

Yet in reality, we find nowhere to hide. “Blessed are the merciful,” He said, “for they will be shown mercy,” implying, we can assume, that those of us who are not merciful toward others shouldn’t expect to find ourselves on the receiving end of that promise.

When we refuse to forgive, something is blocked in our relationship with the Father. The Scripture affirms what our own experience confirms—a clear connection between our willingness to extend forgiveness to others and our ability to appropriate and experience His forgiveness for our sins.