Forgiveness Can Be

A process

God's command

Its own reward

A Christian duty

Choosing to love

Revoking revenge

The best revenge

An act of the will

A life-long process

The cure for injury

The act of forgiving

A virtue of the brave

The letting go of sin

The final form of love

A choice, not a feeling

A spiritual work of mercy

A decision to cancel a debt

Both a decision and a process

Our obligation to pardon others

The key to the heart's shackles

An act of love, mercy, and grace

Rarely a one-time, climactic event

A universal core character strength

Remission of a debt, fine or penalty

A release or a dismissal of something

The greatest gift we can give ourselves

The giving, and so the receiving, of life

A constant attitude, not an occasional act

An act of obedience and gratefulness to God

Choosing not to keep a record or keep score

Giving up all hope of having had a better past

Refusing to allow adversity to poison our life

The pardon or remission of an offense or crime

Choosing not to hold an offense against someone

Determining in our heart to let God be the avenger

Determining to do good to someone rather than evil

Giving up our right to hurt someone for hurting us

To wipe the slate clean, to pardon, to cancel a debt

A funny thing, it warms the heart and cools the sting

The only way to reverse the irreversible flow of history

Refusing to use our past suffering to justify present sin

Choosing to lay down our right to have our offender owe us

A manifestation of submission to Christ and fellow believers

Giving a repentant person an opportunity to regain our trust

To pardon, give up resentment, and grant relief to an offender

The ultimate preventive medicine, as well as the greatest healer

Setting the prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was us

Letting go of past grudges or lingering anger against a person or persons

A decision whereby the internal operating system of our soul is transformed

Choosing not to dwell on an offense or continue to rehearse it in our thoughts

Releasing the other from blame, leaving the event in God's hands, and moving on

Moving on instead of dwelling on a sin and refusing to harbor it against someone

The pardon of an offender, by which they are considered and treated as not guilty

A gift we give ourselves that allows us to get on with our lives instead of being trapped in the past by resentment

Consciously choosing to let God be the one who determines the appropriate course of action in dealing justly with an offending person

Refusing, by God’s grace, to let anger and pain energize an agenda to exact payment from another person, whether that payment be emotional, relational, physical, or financial

Extending love and kindness even when it’s undeserved, trusting God to avenge our situation instead of ourselves, and using life’s conflicts as opportunities to display God’s character

A personal and voluntary effort at the self-transformation of our own half of a relationship with another, such that our own self is restored to peace and ideally to an unconditional positive regard towards the other

Deciding to live with the painful consequences of another person’s sin - we are going to have to live with it anyway, so we might as well do it without the bitterness and rancor and hatred that threaten to destroy our soul

The intentional and voluntary process by which one who may initially feel victimized undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding a given offense, and overcomes negative emotions such as resentment and vengeance (however justified it might be)