Forgiveness

I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. Both about the need to forgive and the need to be forgiven. The scriptures say that the more you forgive, the more God will forgive you, but I worry about this because I rarely take offence at what others do to me so I do not have anything to forgive, yet I have done so much that I need to be forgiven of. I suppose that the relationship between forgiving and being forgiven is not directly proportional, meaning if I forgive one sin against me then the Lord will forgive one sin against Him, but rather it is more based on principle, if I forgive all sins against me, than the Lord will forgive all my sins, pending my repentance, of course.

This reminds me I need to forgive all, whether the offender repent or not, yet cannot expect God to forgive me unless I repent. I do not remember the exact quote but the Lord says something like ‘I will forgive whom I will forgive, but unto you it is given to forgive all man.’

Back to my original topic, I have been very blessed in my life, but I often wonder if I would have the strength to forgive someone who did something really bad to me, like hurt one of my children. As I have not been tested in this area, I am still not sure how I would react. I would like to think I could forgive, but at the same time, I hope that my tests come in other areas as I do not want my children to be hurt just to see if I can forgive.

I suppose that is enough rambling for now.