Any withholding of love is itself a sin. So to have held it back on account of what another has done is itself an act for which we must repent. Sometimes, the act that precipitates this repentance is for the one who has harmed the other to come and beg the harmed party’s “forgiveness.” I think it may be partly for this reason that we call the aggrieved party’s act an act of forgiveness. But make no mistake, when I as the harmed party respond to this request by giving up my resentment and my grudge, what I am doing is repenting—repenting of my failing to love. Forgiveness is simply the word we use to describe this kind of repentance.
This kind of repentance—the repentance that we call forgiveness—is the most crucial kind of repentance of all. The Lord teaches us that if we don’t repent of withholding forgiveness, then we ourselves will not be able to receive the mercy that we need in order to be redeemed. ("Withholding Forgiveness" James L. Ferrell. Oct 22, 2014)In the Lord’s prayer there is a part that is different than the others. (Matt 6:9-13) The only conditional part is that we are forgiven our debts as we forgive our debtors.
I am seeing that my estrangement is from me not forgiving myself. And that my refusing to forgive myself is really a form of pride. ("Forgiving Oneself" James L. Ferrell. Oct 25, 2014)
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