Imagine how difficult it would have been for Joseph to tell his treacherous brothers that he forgave them or for Ananias to call Saul, “Brother Saul….” Someone had to speak words of forgiveness and acceptance to the man who had been persecuting the church. Some of the great stories of the faith are about people who have been forgiven and pass that gift to others. A refusal to forgive opens us to bitterness. Matthew 18 ends with a man on the torture rack. Paul realizes that a lack of forgiveness opens us to the power of Satan (2 Corinthians 2:11). - Pastor Tom Harrison