For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15

God offers to forgive me for Jesus’ sake. He calls me to repentance as part of the package.

The very nature of sin is selfishness: I want to be the most important person and have everyone serve and please me. But that privilege belongs to God alone. Since He made us for Himself, He is right to expect that.

God forgives me for not putting Him first, but I have trouble forgiving people who haven’t treated me as they should have done.

That selfish nature - the Bible calls it my sinful flesh - is what keeps me from forgiving people who have wronged, hurt, or offended me. It may be true that they owed me better; I should have been able to trust them but they did me damage instead. God should have been able to trust me, too, but I failed Him.

Repentance means leaving behind my old selfish way of thinking to begin to think, speak and live God’s way. It means that I quit expecting that everyone should treat me as the most important person. It means that I recognize that I’m not God, so I have to quit expecting other people to treat me as though I were.

Lord, my sinful nature dies hard. I keep thinking people owe me more than what I owe You. Forgive my selfish heart, and give me a heart that’s ready to forgive, as You have forgiven me, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles