How Important Is Forgiveness?

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matthew 6:14) It is a miserable existence to be in a state of conflict. To be upset with someone, and to have people upset with you. For some it is not a big deal. It doesn't bother them to be at odds with others, and to have people be at odds with them. The statement that Jesus made after He gave us His model prayer, is that to be unforgiving is something that truly bothers our Heavenly Father. It is a very blunt statement, that if we do not forgive others, He will not forgive us. And what does it mean to not have forgiveness by our Heavenly Father? Will it affect our salvation?
I may have some disagreement on this, but I believe it will. For a Christian to be unforgiving, is to demonstrate that one never became a Christian in the first place. "He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:8) To be a Christian is to emulate the forgiveness shown by our Savior, when the nails were stuck through His hands and feet, and to say: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."(Luke 23:34)
I have really been struggling with this lately, as with a lot of people, who deal with conflict in their lives. If this is something that is at the heart of our relationship with God, we need to be obedient to His will concerning forgiveness. To be right with others, will mean that we will be right with God. Instead of being in a place of misery, we will be in a place of peace and blessing. GP
 Photo by Stuart Miles. Published on 03 October 2014 www.freedigitalphotos.net