Matthew 18:35

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you 

forgive your brother from your heart.”

{Matthew 18:35} (NIV1984)

Reconciliation is impossible apart from forgiveness. We can say, “I forgive you” to another person. We can then tell other people that we forgave them. We can tell God we forgave them. Yet did we really forgive them? 

Our Lord tells us that we are required to forgive each other from our heart. We pray and ask God to help us to forgive. We thank Him for His forgiveness towards us, and ask Him to forgive us for our unforgiving attitude towards this person. We ask Him to change our hearts, that we would see this person with God’s eyes. We then are satisfied that we have truly forgiven, and a peace settles in on us. Days pass, we meet this person accidentally- HEARTCHECK- there is an instant of an emotion, it is hard to pin down. What did I think exactly, what did I feel exactly? We smiled and said hello, we even chatted, but we are troubled by that flicker of emotion. Could it be that I still hold something? Could it be that I haven’t forgiven from my heart? And so we once again open our hearts up to the great heart Surgeon, and He cleanses us, and changes our heart. 

Friend, our Lord has forgiven us completely from His heart. The only flicker He feels in Himself when He sees us, is a deep warmth and love for us. May His forgiveness and His love fill our hearts, so that we can forgive each other from the heart!