Christian Bible Lesson 101: Forgive others and you will be forgiven

Bible Verses

“Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5-17

“ And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” – Mark 11:25-26

“Judge not and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” Luke 6:37

Christian Bible Lesson Overview

It is important to forgive those who wronged you.  We all make mistakes and do things that affect other people.  Sometimes people are not aware of the pain they cause others until it is too late to change their behavior.  Other times they deliberately hurt people. 

Regardless of the situation, we must be tolerant of other people and forgive them when they harmed us.  This does not mean that their actions are OK, it means that you are not going to act against them. 

When we forgive other people for their actions against us, we can be forgiven for our sins. So, we can start again clean. 

Christian Bible Lesson For Today

There are times when forgiving others for the harm they do to you helps you.  For example, when you are driving on the freeway and a car cuts you off and almost hits your car.  You can honk your horn, wave your arm, and draw attention to the event.  Then your blood pressure may rise, and you will feel stressed.  You are still in the same situation, except that you are now feeling anger for the driver of the other car.

The other option is that you can slow your car down slightly and give the other driver plenty of room.  You may even move to a different lane after you are clear from the other driver.   You can continue to focus on your driving and forgive the other driver.  You do not know if he saw you when he cut you off, but either way, you do not allow the situation to stress you and cause other challenges.

That example is a simple situation where you do not know the other driver.  When you are harmed by someone you know who acted deliberately, it is much more difficult to forgive them.

Example of a more complex situation.  Susan is a software developer for a large company that develops business software.  There are times when the business software does not work properly for a specific customer.  The customer creates a support ticket that includes a description of the problem and any related information.  George manages the support department for the company.  George discussed a specific support ticket with Susan regarding posting transactions.  Susan studied the details of the ticket and did some testing.  She discovered the problem and created a “patch” to fix the problem. 

George inserted the patch into the main code and the problem was solved.  When the company president asked George about the ticket, George took credit for fixing the problem.  During a staff meeting, the president of the company mentioned that George developed the patch that fixed the software problem.  Susan was attending the staff meeting.  Susan could have corrected the President by informing him that she wrote the code that fixed the software, or she could talk with George later and let him know that he should have given her credit for the patch, but that she forgives him and asked that he be more careful about communicating who did specific work in the future. 

Susan chose the second approach and she let George know things were OK between them.  Now, Susan does not have an enemy inside the company and George will be a good person to approach her when she needs help.

Christian Bible Lesson Summary

Forgiving other people for actions they took against you will not always have an overall happy ending.  However, you will always know that you made the right decision.  The person who wronged you may not become a friend, but you will always know you did the right thing.