Presented by Julie Busteed

I’ve been looking at what it takes to build healthy relationships. And I’ve saved the best for last: forgiveness. This verse in Matthew always catches me short.

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).

I need to take to heart this command!

Relationships are living, growing things because they involve people who are growing and changing. And because you are human, there will be times when words are spoken or actions are taken that hurt someone in the relationship. You and I need to forgive others and also ask for forgiveness—things that are not easy to do, except through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But wait—there’s more! Jesus said we should love our enemies.

I look at Jesus’ example of laying down his life for you and me. When he was on the cross, suffering, he forgave those who crucified him.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

That’s the ultimate in forgiving your enemies. It really seems quite impossible, doesn’t it? Jesus was fully God and fully man. But I don’t think that excuses you or me to forgive even our enemies.

Corrie Ten Boom and her family helped many Jewish people escape the Nazi’s in WW2. As a result, she was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She survived and wrote books and spoke about her experience. Corrie recounts the following as she was speaking about forgiveness at a church in Munich in 1947:

Afterward, I saw him—a man moving toward me through the crowd. I recognized him instantly: a former guard from Ravensbrück, the concentration camp where my sister Betsie and I had been imprisoned for hiding Jews.

He approached me, now dressed in civilian clothes, and said, “A fine message, Fräulein. How good it is to know that all our sins are at the bottom of the sea.” Then he extended his hand. “I was a guard at Ravensbrück. I’ve become a Christian, and I know God has forgiven me, but I would like to hear it from you. Will you forgive me?”

I stood frozen, remembering Betsie’s suffering and death. Forgive him? I could not. Yet I knew Jesus’ words: “If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive yours.” Forgiveness is not a feeling—it’s an act of the will.

So, I prayed silently, “Jesus, help me. I can lift my hand; You supply the feeling.” Mechanically, I reached out—and as I did, a current seemed to pass from my shoulder to our joined hands. A warmth filled my heart.

“I forgive you, brother,” I said, “with all my heart.”

In that moment, I felt God’s love more deeply than ever before.[1]

May you and I be obedient and lift our hands and trust God to fill us with his love.

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[1] Corrie Ten Boom, Sherrill, E., & Sherrill, J. L. (2008). The hiding place. Chosen Books.