Prayer:
Father, forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive others their trespasses against us.
Forgiveness is something that's easier to talk about then do, but it's something that we must try to do.
If someone says something we don't like or accuses us of something, more often than not we'll fly off the handle and want to get our own back. Jesus on the cross, Steven being stoned and many other 'Saints' expressed their forgiveness for horrors that we shudder to think about. What happens to us is so minor that it doesn't even compare.
In some ways this is now we show our faith; Jesus forgave, so we should. The disciples asked Jesus just how many times we should forgive someone. The generous suggestion was seven times. Have we even forgiven someone seven times if they've wronged us? Yet Jesus reply was not seven times, but seventy times seven. I don't think he meant for us to keep count, but rather that we should forgive all the time. How many people are going to commit the same mistake against us 490 times? Note: that it says that they should ask for forgiveness, not that we should just forgive point blank.
Or does it? Jumping back to the examples mentioned at the top of these notes, both Jesus and Steven forgave even though their 'enemies' didn't ask for forgiveness. We have to remember that some things that people do that may hurt us (emotionally as well as physically) may be by accident. They may not even know that they are doing it. The same applies to us. Some times bad feeling come about by misunderstandings. Without forgiveness this may continue on for years and years.
The other thing to remember is that we sometimes find faults in others while at the same time don't realise that we do the same thing. It is an important thing to remember that when we 'point the finger' at someone else, three fingers point back at us. A Jesus said 'it is easier to see the speck in someone else's eye rather than the plank in our own.
The other important point to remember is that how we judge others is how God and Jesus will judge us. If we refuse to forgive, then perhaps God will refuse to forgive us!
The Lord's prayer contains an example of forgiveness. It is important to remember the order, as I'm fairly sure sure most people think of it more on the lines of forgive us better than we forgive others. If we want to be forgiven then we need to forgive.
How can we show that we forgive someone (rather than just 'forgive and ignore')?
Can you think of any other examples of forgiveness (from the old testament)?
... and the new testament?
How can we show God we are sorry and need forgiveness?
What do we find hardest to forgive?