This theme has been popping up in my quiet times with Him. Hmm.... still thinking if there is anybody I have not forgiven. However, to all who I owe an apology, I would like to say I am sorry if I have wronged you in anyway.
FORGIVENESS Is the exclusive prerogative of Christianity.
Our Lord does not mean that God's forgiveness is measured by our own, or that our forgiveness is the cause of God's. Neither of these is the true rendering of this clause; but that God cannot forgive an unforgiving spirit. The only sure index that our contrition and penitence are genuine is that we forgive those who have wronged us. If we do not forgive, it proves that we have never attained that true position of soul before God in which He is able to forgive.
How is it with you? Do you forgive? Or are there men and women that you obstinately refuse to forgive? If there are, it shows that your own soul is not right before God; your love to God is gauged by your love to men; your relationship to God is indicated by your relationship to your fellows. The man who does not love the brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Discover where you are to-day. If there is anyone in your life that you refuse to pray for and forgive, know that your heart is wrong with God.
Do the first thing, begin to pray for them, and say: "Forgive us--that one who has hurt me, that man who has wronged me; he needs forgiveness, but I need it equally. We are both in the wrong. I might have made it easier for him to do right than I have done." Second, ask for the opportunity to meet him. Third, claim that when you meet, there may be in you the royalty of God's grace, that you may bear yourself with that rare, gracious love which covers the multitude of sins. Be willing that through your lips God's pitying mercy may pass forth in words of human kindness and tenderness. -Meyer-
The word hatred naturally comes to mind when the topic of forgiveness is ventured into. We find it hard to forgive those whom we believe have wronged us. To the extent that we are capable of love, we are equally capable of hatred. When something we love is taken away from us, our love now turned into hatred is directed towards that which has taken away our object of affection. A man who sees his wife killed by robbers directs his hatred towards robbers. To forgive those robbers, he deems as a betrayal of his love for his wife. Perhaps he hunts them down and kills them. His sin, which he is to bear, was the result of his act of love for his wife. It is only when a person does not care anymore that he is able to forgive and let go. But as long as those memories linger, it will be difficult. Perhaps, it is not so much a matter of forgiving those we hate, but of forgetting those we love...