“…¹⁴ If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”.(NIV) Matthew 6:9-15

The heart of God is all about forgiveness and love (Psalm 86:5). Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15, 19-20) who has made all things possible for us, children of God. And by this, He says that no man can come to the father except through Him (John 14:6).

In our world today, many of us (Christians) believe we can always have our way by doing what we think please God. It is not about what we think; it is about what the bible says. We offend our brothers and sisters daily and we leave them with no apologies though we are aware we have offended them. Other times, we happen to be the ones who are offended and here, we insist that those who offended us must apologize before we forgive them. But where apologies do not come forth, hostility and hatred grows in our hearts.

As we already know, the heart matters a lot to God. God dwells in our hearts, for our bodies are the temple of God Almighty (1 Corinthians 3:16). So it is our duty to ensure that the heart is free of all evil. We can only ensure this when we constantly examine ourselves in the light of the above scripture. When we sin, we quickly ask God to forgive us, but the question is how many times do we forgive our friends and brethren in Christ when they sin against us, either knowingly or unknowingly?

Let us know that until we learn to freely and constantly forgive our brethren who offend us on purpose or unintentionally, our daily request of forgiveness from God is but a clanging cymbal. It will just be a waste of time and effort. Going to heaven is conditional; it is based on our desire to CHOOSE to obey God’s words. And God’s word is “if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”. I do not profess that it is easy to forgive when you have been wronged and hurt, but when we set our minds on the goal, which is dwelling in heaven some day, it will be easier to let go and forgive one another.

So if God does not forgive us, then access to heaven is automatically closed for us. The way to the father (Jesus Christ), requires that we forgive as He forgives us. The Choice is ours! This world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever - 1 John 2:17.

Today may be all we can get; let us allow forgiveness to be in our hearts as we seek to enter heaven.

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