Have you ever found it hard to forgive someone? Someone who has done wrong towards you? Perhaps you were wrongly accused of something, maybe they didn’t even come to you and say they’re sorry. How should we treat people like this? What does the Bible say?

For you and I, forgiving the "unforgivable" can be like a huge mountain rising before us. We might feel so overwhelmed by the sheer height of the mountain that years may pass us by and we still haven’t been able to confront and conquer it. But listen carefully to what Jesus tells us in His word.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15

You see, if we don’t conquer this mountain, and forgive those that have wronged us, it will separate us from God.

Does God forgive us when we do something that is wrong?

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Psalms 86:5

Yes, of course! Even though we may have done many wrong and terrible things, God is very merciful and is always ready to forgive us. When we do something wrong and we are sorry for what we did, we come to Jesus in prayer, confess and forsake our sins, and then we are forgiven for our trespasses (or sins).

Yet while we want Christ to forgive us, how can we say out of one side of our mouth "Lord, I am a sinner, please forgive my sin", and yet on the other side we are saying "But I’m not willing to forgive my brother or sister that has done me wrong". We can’t be double minded about this. If we desire forgiveness from God, we need to forgive all of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

So how can we conquer this mountain? How can we learn to forgive?

Take a moment to image what it must have been like for Jesus, the all powerful creator and son of God, to become a man and walk this earth among the very beings He had created. Image what it was like for Him to be mocked and hated by so many of the very people He had given up so much to save, and whom He loved "with an everlasting love". Behold Him in the garden of Gethsemane as He plead with God for strength to bear the sins of the entire human race. And then listen to the religious leaders as they mocked Him, as they spat in His face, and as they called upon false accusers to unjustly condemn Him. Finally, follow Him as He staggers under the weight of the cross on the way to the crucifixion, as the nails are driven through his tender hands and feet, and the cross is lifted up and placed in the ground. It is very difficult for you and I to even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the Son of God, yes the creator of this world, to endure this! But in the midst of all this, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, listen to what He said to the soldiers who were inflicting this cruel death.

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

What amazing love! What incredible forgiveness! Regardless of the terrible things people were doing to Him, Jesus still forgave them.

And Jesus says to us:

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

What an amazing verse! We should have the same forgiveness as God, "even as God" has forgiven us. Jesus died to save men and women from sin. We have all sinned and are all responsible for the death of Jesus. So the same love and forgiveness Jesus showed to you and I by bearing our sins on the cross, is the same forgiveness that we should show to one another.

But How?
If you wish to experience true forgiveness, ask God to reveal more of His love to you. Ask the Lord to give you the gift of forgiveness. Because we need help to forgive, of ourselves, we can do no good thing, but with Christ "all things are possible". And as you see more of God’s great love to you, the language of your heart will be "Lord, you have forgiven me so much, please give me your forgiveness and love so I can forgive those that wrong me."

Below is a beautiful story from Corrie Ten Boom, who was arrested during WWII, and learnt how to have true forgiveness, even toward those that had been her captors.

"It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. [Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.] He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s painblanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message Fräulein", he said "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself." -- quoted from http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/DanaherCorrieTenBoomsStory.pdf