Forgive Others So That You Can Be Forgiven

It is true that many of us have been offended or have offended others, so a very common denominator of life is "forgiveness." Everyone will definitely want their offenses or trespasses to be forgiven, but on their own part, have they also forgiven those that have offended them? The truth is that as much as you expect others to forgive you, you should also forgive others. You must not be too quick to rain down revenge or judgement on someone because of their offences.

A story was told of a woman that was indebted to someone in the tune of millions and the date for the payment was long passed. All attempts to raise the money to pay the man back did not yield any result. The business that she invested in, unknowingly to her, was scammy, so she lost the entire money and could not pay the debtor back. When the man heard the woman's explanation, he decided to forgive her of her debts. However, the same woman, after few months, there was someone that owed her a few thousands and could not pay, it was like all hell went loose.

Each day, the woman would be threatening the debtor with all manner of things and even when the man asked for a little more time, she refused. She went as far as contacting the market union where the man was trading to seal up the man's shop until he has paid. The news got to the first man that forgave the woman her debt and he was disappointed in the woman's actions. He was able to forgive her her huge debt but she could not forgive someone else his small debt. You already guessed what the man did - he went back to the woman to demand for her debt and asked her to remove the man's debt from her own and pay the balance; which was still in millions.

There is no doubt that we have all experienced forgiveness at some points in our lives, so it is also worthy that we forgive others. Forgiveness is good but it is also better if you learn to forgive others. Apart from the fact that there is a kind of peace that comes to your mind when you know that you bear no grudge or offence against anyone, it also makes you a better human. You should not only forgive those that are your close friends, but you should also forgive others as well even if they do not apologise. Trust me, it does you more good to forgive people than it does to them.

You will agree with me that by forgiving people, you do not endorse their offences nor tick what they did as being okay, you simply prove that you are a better human. Forgiving People does not mean that the person automatically becomes your friend. You only owe the duty of forgiveness, not of friendship. If you have ever had the experience of suddenly running into the person who you hold unforgiveness against, you will notice how hard your heart will pound that moment. This is to show you that unforgiveness affects you negatively than it affects the offender.

It is when you have forgiven others that you will qualify to receive forgiveness yourself. You do not expect others to forgive you of your trespasses while you find it difficult to forgive others of their own. However, one thing to also know is that forgiveness should start personally from the inside first before it can be related to others. That is, if you cannot forgive yourself for the wrong actions, wrong choices that you took in the past or for any other thing, you may not be able to forgive others. So self-forgiveness is the first step towards forgiving others.

When you have mastered the act of forgiving yourself, you will not have difficulty in forgiving others. More so, forgiveness should not be selective - it should be to all or it is not forgiveness at all. If you forgive someone and revenge against another, then you need to learn more about forgiveness. In conclusion, forgiveness shows who you are and it is a reflection of your personality and not the personality of the person that offended you.

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