The Mystery of How God Works

Tags

Bible, God, Grace, Jesus, Psalms, Sin, Suffering

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes… (John 3:8)”

The late Rev. Billy Graham once said in a sermon that also appeared in a popular dc Talk song, “Can you see God, have you ever seen Him? I’ve never seen the wind. I’ve seen the effects of the wind but I’ve never seen the wind. You see? There’s a mystery to it…” 

There are seasons of life when it can feel as though God is silent or absent, that even in the midst of your prayer life, attending church services, reading the Bible, and perhaps even reading good, life-giving, Gospel-filled Christian books that nothing seems to catch in the heart and you are left wanting, waiting, wondering…

Sometimes in these seasons you can wonder… is there something wrong with me, some deficiency that I can fix? There must be something I can do to change this? Or maybe you are asking other questions not so much about yourself, but about God like… what is God doing? Does He even care about me? Why is he letting this happen? Has He forgotten about me? Does He even care at all?

There is a mystery to how God works in our lives. At times, we can feel like we have a pretty good handle on Him and how He works, and at other times, we are left guessing. I believe there is a danger if we aren’t careful in relying too heavily on how we feel as God works in our lives and allowing our feelings of God working in our lives to be the normative measure by which to gauge our understanding of not only the reality of God working in our lives but perhaps the extent to which God is working in our lives.

What do I mean by that? Well, there are some good Christian songs out there by some Christian artists who intentionally make the Gospel of Jesus Christ echo throughout their lyrics so that one receives a good dose of Scripture and Gospel in listening to songs, but there are also some artists who base much of their lyrics not so much on the objective truth of the Gospel and the redemptive story of God’s plan in Scripture, but rather on how we feel in light of what God has done or is doing. This means that these songs are less about God and what God has done, is doing, will do, and more about us and how we can celebrate how we feel in light of what God has done. If we’re not careful with music like this, we can use lyrics such as this to frame the fabric of our relationship with God in our lives which can be based more on a transaction rather than based on grace.

When you walk into a coffee shop to purchase your coffee, you place an order, handover the money or your card, and then you receive your coffee in exchange for the money you provided. You were not given the coffee, but rather you purchased the coffee and your receiving of the coffee is simply receiving what is due to you. We can treat God in like manner. When we base our relationship with God off the things He gives and how He makes us feel, we can cultivate a relationship all about praising God for the gifts while neglecting to really and truly praise God at all. We lose sight of the Giver in light of the gifts. Music that bases it’s lyrics on how God makes us feel can teach us without our realizing it that we can rejoice and celebrate God for how He makes us feel. The problem therein lies in when we don’t feel good and there seemingly isn’t anything we’ve done to change that. We can think that God owes us the joy and satisfaction that come in the grace of God in Jesus, and when we don’t feel that joy and satisfaction we can get confused with God, angry, bitter, despondent. The trouble is that we’ve based our relationship on how God makes us feel and perhaps what we can get from God, rather than God Himself and His Word.

God’s Word doesn’t change, quite like God Himself is unchanging, but we are constantly changing just as our feelings change.

In New England, the weather can go from rainy in the morning to sunny around noon to snowing by the afternoon to clear and sunny and back to raining by the next morning. This is why there is a saying, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” What a great metaphor for how often our feelings can change. One moment we are happy eating our favorite food or listening to music we enjoy, and the next minute we are honking a car horn in traffic angered at how somebody can change lanes and not see that we are there (another common New England experience by the way). One moment we are hot, the next cold. Our feelings are changing all the time just as the experiences that we have cause us to change ever so slightly. Basing our faith on our feelings about God or on how God makes us feel rather than on His unchanging Word is a dangerous, shaky, constantly changing foundation that over time will leave you feeling as though perhaps God has abandoned you, or that God is not being faithful, or that maybe you’ve done something wrong for God to ‘make you feel’ the way you do.

The truth is that God hasn’t changed. The good news is that God is unchanging and always faithful to His Word. A reality that is hard for us, if we’re honest, to wrap our minds around as we are basically the opposite. There will be seasons of your life when you feel like your heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude, and there will be seasons when you feel isolated, alone, and perhaps numb to the things that once gave you so much joy and seeming fulfillment. What is important in both good times and bad is that we aren’t basing our ultimate hope and joy on our feelings, but rather on God’s Word.

When you look at the Psalms or when you think of them, perhaps you immediately think of the highlights where such great imagery is provided about the attributes of God or the more prophetic passages detailing the coming and experience of Jesus’ incarnation and crucifixion. However, not all the Psalms are full of joy and gratitude. There are Psalms that are honest to God about the times when we feel alone, isolated, weak, vulnerable, and numb to things that used to give us joy in life. There are 150 Psalms, but in the 30s you get highlights like ‘joy comes in the morning, ‘blessed are the forgiven,’ some about the ‘steadfast love of God,’ ‘taste and see that the Lord is good,’ ‘great is the Lord,’ and then you have Psalm 38 which is an honest to God plea to God for help. It is a pouring out of one’s soul to God. The Psalmist David writes that he is feeble and crushed, that all his longing is before God and his sighing is not hidden from God, that the light from his eyes is gone, there is no soundness in his flesh, his strength fails, his friends and family are distant or removed, adversaries seem to be thriving, and all there is is waiting for the Lord to help. David has confessed his sin to God and yet he is mourning. Mourning is something you do when you experience loss. However, the state of his heart was that of mourning. David begins his Psalm boldly claiming that God’s wrath is the source of his pain, but also that God’s wrath is justified because of his own sin. Yet, David is pursuing good, he is penitent before the Lord, he is mindful about his sin and lays it before God, and he is looking to God for help. The Psalm doesn’t end with highlights about God’s attributes or great rejoicing, but ends where it begins with a desperate plea for help and feeling helpless, weak, vulnerable, and alone. David acknowledges that God is able to save him by calling God his salvation and is obviously looking to God in his prayer which is right, but he hasn’t experienced the salvation he is seeking. He is left wanting.

Perhaps closer to the mark is Psalm 88 which comes after the source for the famous hymn Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (Psalm 87) and just before a Psalm about singing of God’s steadfast love forever which sounds like a more contemporary worship song (Psalm 89). However, Psalm 88, a psalm from the Sons of Korah, the psalmist writes that his soul is ‘full of troubles’ and that they feel like someone who is dead. The writer feels like they can’t escape and as though everyone is shunning them and that they are in a pit. He writes that every day he calls upon God but seemingly gets no answer. They feel utterly cast down and in a dark place where no light seems to be able to break in. He writes he feels helpless, dead, and ironically asks the question, “Do you work wonders for the dead? … Is your steadfast love declared in the grave?” Let’s look for a moment at Psalm 88 and think about how difficult a place the writer is in. Perhaps you have been in or are experiencing a difficult place in your life as well…

“O LORD, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness. (Psalm 88, ESV)”

Life isn’t always ‘rainbows and butterflies,’ but it’s hard. We go through times when something goes wrong and we are looking for a break, and then something else goes wrong and then something else goes wrong, and when we think to ourselves that nothing else could possibly go wrong or get any harder, somehow, it does. This is also why I love reading the Psalms because the Bible isn’t full of surreal examples of magnificent faith by perfect individuals who never experienced any of life’s problems or hardships, but the Bible comes to us from flawed people who experienced real life, the ups and the downs, and the Bible testifies about One who experienced all that we experienced, who suffered what we suffer, and who lived a perfect life and died so that we who are dead in our sins, incapable of saving ourselves, might have life in Him by faith in the Gospel of Christ.

The author of Hebrews writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16, ESV)” So we may experience seasons where we feel distant and alone, isolated from God and others, but we can take comfort in the fact that God knows what we are going through not simply because we believe He is omniscient, but that God has willfully out of sheer grace and love and compassion for sinners come into this world Himself to experience the suffering that we experience. God knows our suffering because He has suffered Himself. God has experienced the hardships that we face and the temptations that we face and has overcome them. God’s steadfast love has been declared from the grave and for those in the grave in Jesus Christ dying for our sins and rising from the dead in order to provide hope, peace, love, and mercy to those who are dead in their sins, hope beyond the grave. The good news of the Gospel is that God does work wonders for the dead. God does cause dry bones to live and come to life. The first evidence of this is what God has done in Jesus Christ, but there is also what God has done in and through Jesus Christ for those who believe in Him. The shackles of guilt and shame because of sin fall off, and we are free to live in light of the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus whereas before we were once incapable by our own power and effort to do anything to save ourselves. God has provided our salvation in Jesus.

There are seasons in our lives when we may feel helpless and alone and isolated or perhaps even that we feel dead and that we are in a pit like the psalmists, but we can take comfort in that God hears our prayer, God is still there, God is still faithful to His promises and Word, and although we may not feel great joy and gratitude from things that once caused our hearts to overflow, we can cling to God who is faithful and to His Word which is unchanging, timeless, and true. Our feelings may not comfort us, but God’s Word can transcend even our feelings in times of darkness and allow us to see the light.

I’m a surfer. There are times when I am surfing and I go out and have a great time, catch many waves, and have many memorable moments. There are also times when I go surfing and get incredibly frustrated with the conditions being not half as good as the forecast and not half as good as last time or as good as they could be, or my board doesn’t seem to be working for me. I can end a surf session and feel like it was nearly a waste of time. Maybe I didn’t catch many or any waves like I normally would, however, what I have found is that on the days that where conditions aren’t good and I still go out, I might not have the most fun, I might not catch many waves, and it might feel like I’m paddling in the water against the current as though somebody were literally holding me back from catching any waves, but when conditions are better and actually good everything is much easier and I am far better for having gone through those days where nothing seems to be going well. The same is true in our lives. We don’t see how a circumstance and experience of a dark season is going to or how it could possibly benefit us at all, but God sees far more than what we can see. We see a centimeter of our lives, God sees a mile. God sees the whole thing and He saw it before we were born or even a thought in our parents’ minds. Hard times and seasons of life test faith. They cause all that clouds and fogs our hearts and minds to be laid bare before God, and all that we truly believe to come to the surface. Some of it is good, some of it, often, is pretty bad. However, like the psalmists it is important that we keep looking to God and that we trust in God’s Word.

How God works is often a mystery and we might not know what or why God is allowing something to happen in our lives, but we can take comfort in the reality that God is still good, that God still loves us, that we haven’t been forgotten, and that God has a good purpose for what we are facing even if we can’t see it. We know all these things about God because God’s Word says so, but we also know these things when we look back over the history of God’s faithfulness in our lives. God’s people often had to remember how God had been faithful to them as a people because when faced with hardships they would forget. Remembering God’s faithfulness and love are crucial in seasons of hardship, when you feel like you are in a pit of despair (not The Princess Bride pit but an actual place of hardship).

I don’t know what you are going through or facing, but if your life is anything like mine or that of any other human being, know that you are not alone. That we all suffer. However, we have One we can look to in our pit of despair and darkness who can sympathize with our troubles because He has experienced suffering and hardship Himself. We have a God who is compassionate enough to come into time and space, to step into His own creation, to enter into our problem of sin and death and all that is wrong in the world in order to make all things new and to turn death on it’s head through the cross of Christ. Jesus suffered. Jesus wept. Jesus died. He didn’t partly die or come close to death, He actually died and He died willingly in order to save sinners like you and me. He died because He loved us. He loved us before we were born. He loves us even now. In the world we will experience trouble and we may like Job have things stripped away from us, but one thing remains that nothing in heaven or on earth can take away, and that is God and His love for us. Who we are in Christ might not feel full of joy and fulfilling at certain times, but we have to trust God’s Word over our mere feelings. To trust God’s Word we have to look to God’s Word and that means looking to God’s Word when we don’t feel anything or don’t feel like going to it at all. It’s funny how we have a hard time hearing God speak to us at times, but it’s often in those times that we aren’t listening to God either. Go to God in prayer. Go to God at His Word. Your situation and circumstance might not change. Bad things can and will still happen. I mean, Jesus was put to death and He did everything right, so we can’t trust our efforts to save us. However, we can find comfort in God and His Word. We might not leave the pit, but we can find Light enough to endure it.

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Forgiveness

Tags

Bible, Christian, Christianity, Church, Faith, Forgiveness, God, Gospel, Jesus, Love

It’s easy to forgive others until you have something to forgive. 

C.S. Lewis

One of the most central aspects of the Christian faith which is one of the most beautiful and wonderful parts of the work of the Gospel is forgiveness. As people put their trust and faith in Jesus, not simply believing that Jesus exists, but believing Jesus is who the Bible says He is and believing in what the Bible says Jesus came to do, has done, and will do; the prior work of justification is then applied to the believer as the Holy Spirit changes their heart giving them a desire to know Jesus, to love and worship Him, while simultaneously a desire to mortify/kill sin in their life. Aside from all that theology which is true, there is another aspect which characterizes those who believe in Jesus, and that is that those who have genuine faith, who believe in Jesus, their sins are forgiven.

There are many ways to illustrate the beauty of this event, this awakening from a life of sin and death, to a life of grace and peace in Christ. The contemporary Christian band DC Talk made a music video for a song on one of their later albums, the song was called ‘Consume Me’ (dc Talk, “Consume Me”). In the video, everyone is wearing what appear to be old-fashioned gas masks and everyone seems to be following one another and doing the same thing. Everything looks the same and you get the idea that nothing out of the ordinary ever happens in this sort of modern, routine world. However, suddenly, one guy breaks out of the line people are in and runs down the stairs. People try to stop him, but most are continuing their routine walking in the video. You also get the impression that the people are being held captive and that they are forced to wear the masks on their face. Anyway, as one breaks out of line he pulls the mask off and he starts to stumble and fall down the stairs and you get the impression that he feels like the air is acidic or something as he starts behaving as if he is choking. However, he is on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, suddenly everyone walking up the stairs in the video stops what they’re doing and lean over to look toward him. Then, the man stands up without the mask and confidently breathes. Then, others seeing him start removing their masks to take their first breath. This is a beautiful visual representation of what takes place when someone believes in Jesus. Not only do they awake in regards to their comatose state concerning sin, but it is like they are breathing air for the first time, they are new creations, the old is passing away and the new has come. The invisible weight of sin and guilt and shame is removed and they are free, and free in a way they never knew previously possible. They have been forgiven.

Another example of this is from a video Francis Chan made for his DVD series called BASIC (Francis Chan, BASIC, “Fear God”). I think the series itself, to be honest, is just okay. However, there is one powerful visual example he provides which is similar to the DC Talk example. Chan provides an example of someone on a bed sleeping and water begins to flow under the bed and eventually everything in the room is floating, except the bed and the girl, and the room is full of water. Then, suddenly, the girl wakes up and realizes she is drowning and floats/swims to the top and when she gets to the top she is able to take a huge breath of fresh air. Instead of drowning in a world of sin, she is raised to new life in Christ and she becomes conscious of the world around her, her surroundings for the first time, and is able to know she needs saving. Then, she makes her way up and out of the depths of the watery room to find a bright new world where she is able to breath and live. Of course, no analogy is perfect for if it were it would not be an analogy and would simply be the thing itself.

Both of these examples illustrate the beauty of what happens to someone who turns to Jesus, turns from their sin, and experiences new life in Him. Part of that new life is the forgiveness of sins. We acknowledge our sin and turn to Jesus who is our Savior, capable and willing to save us from the sin in which we are drowning.

As Christians, we have been forgiven of our sins. This is one of the defining characteristics of the Christian life, and yet, often it is difficult for us to show forgiveness to others. Why is that?

Tim Keller, author and former founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has an interesting concept in response to why we have such a difficult time forgiving others. He says the key to understanding forgiveness is understanding the Gospel which is central to the Christian understanding of forgiveness. At the heart of the Gospel is Jesus, and the understanding that all humanity are sinful and God has a just right to punish humanity because of sin, however, instead of giving humanity what they deserve God provides a means of salvation, the only means, in sending His Son Jesus Christ to live perfectly obedient to the law of God, to die as a substitution for sinners, and to be raised from the dead defeating the power of sin and the chains of death in Himself so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life.

The cross of Jesus showcased the bill, namely, the cost of sin, while the resurrection of Jesus from the dead showcases that that bill had been paid in full. For indeed, while the cross of Jesus and His death are important to understand as Christians, a devaluing of His resurrection from the dead is to devalue the victory of God over sin and the grave and to invalidate our own faith. If we believe that Jesus suffered and died alone, we don’t believe any differently from what many may believe about Jesus if they believe in the existence of the historical Jesus. It is believing in not only that Christ suffered and died for our sin, and that He was buried, but also that He was raised from the dead, appeared to many, and ascended into Heaven until He comes again at the appointed time that separates believers from unbelievers. If Jesus died, than Christianity matters little. If Jesus died and arose from the dead, than everything in the Bible, everything Jesus did and said, Christianity itself truly matters.

Now, Tim Keller believes that the key to understanding forgiveness is in understanding the Gospel because in understanding the Gospel there is an understanding that God has every right to punish, justly, humanity for sin, however, that beautiful and great injustice is that God gives humanity what humanity doesn’t deserve. God shows humanity grace in the Gospel. However, God still has to deal with the injustice of sin, so what does God do? How can a just God simply let people off the hook per se with sin or does He?

The answer is God decided to step into history, into time and space Himself to take the punishment that humanity deserves because of sin. God became man in Jesus, the Word of God which took on flesh, in order to willingly suffer and die for the sins of humanity out of love and to arise from the dead, defeating sin and death, and providing a means of reconciliation for humanity separate from God because of sin, back into the loving arms of the Creator God. God dealt with the cosmic injustice of sin by sacrificing His right to get even, to give humanity what they deserve. And therein lies the key to forgiveness that Tim Keller says is at the heart of the Gospel.

Forgiveness means sacrificing your right to get even, to give someone what they deserve.

In the Gospel, God sacrificed His just right to punish humanity, literally sacrificing His Son giving Him what humanity deserves and giving humanity what His Son deserves. God sacrificed His wrath against sin and humanity at the cross of Jesus. When somebody has wronged you or committed some offense and often there are feelings of anger, and if for a prolonged time it becomes a grudge. However, unless that anger and wrath is sacrificed, it destroys you.

We hold grudges and feel that we are justified in our self-righteous states in holding people to a perfect standard. Once someone falls shorts of our expectations, we immediately feel justified in mistreating them and throwing them under the bus. Look at celebrity athletes for example. How many athletes have been praised as mini-gods for what seems countless hours in the media, only to find perhaps that very day of the offense the athlete (guilty or not) has become lower than life itself? It is an easy thing to point our fingers at the media and jest about how their opinions are as fickle as the wind, constantly changing direction, however, the hard thing is to look the other direction of the pointed finger at ourselves and to notice how quickly our opinion about someone can change.

Maybe someone has said something we didn’t like and took personally. Maybe someone has done something that we didn’t like or agree with. Because we have a reason, we believe in our heart of hearts that we are justified in holding our anger over that person and to let go of that anger would be to permit a great injustice. However, when we look at the Gospel, is that not what has happened for us as Christians? Did God not permit a great injustice in sending His Son to the cross, let alone giving humanity by grace through faith what Jesus deserves?

We may push back against this notion saying, “Well, that isn’t easy. It’s not easy as you say to sacrifice your right to be angry about someone who has wronged you.” However, I never said it was easy.

Do you think it was easy for God to send Jesus to cross to suffer, be spat upon, tortured, crucified, and killed? Was that EASY for Jesus do you think?It’s incredibly difficult. However, living as a Christian is to live in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, to live a life that is rooted and centered in the Gospel in such a way that not only does our life flow from it but all that we do is then shaped by it. How we relate to others, as we grow as Christians, is shaped by our relationship to God in Jesus, as we reflect the love that God has shown us to others. That means we forgive because we have been forgiven. Someone may not deserve forgiveness, but we remember that we never deserved to be forgiven, yet, God forgave us in Christ. We remember that God sacrificed His wrath against sin and humanity by transferring it to His Son Jesus at the cross. In order to forgive someone, we must personally sacrifice our right to get even, our right to give them what they deserve.

We feel that it makes sense to carry grudges and to be angry with people who have committed offenses, but in reality the ones who suffer are not merely the ones who are victims of the offense, but to carry that anger and grudge is to allow it to reign over you, to enslave you, to hold you captive, and within you it devours you from the inside out. You may feel that you are making someone pay for their offense by not giving them the opportunity to be forgiven and holding onto that anger, but the truth is you are perpetuating your own suffering and it only grows with time.

What is forgiveness, specifically? When someone has wronged you, it means they owe you, they have a debt with you. Forgiveness is to absorb the cost of the debt yourself. You pay the price yourself, and you refuse to exact the price out of the person in any way. Forgiveness is to

a) free the person from penalty for a sin by

b) paying the price yourself.

The ultimate example. We are told that our forgiveness must imitate God’s forgiveness in Christ. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Eph.4:32).

a) How did God forgive? We are told that he does not ‘remember’ them. That cannot mean that God literally forgets what has happened–it means he ‘sends away’ the penalty for them. He does not bring the incidents to mind, and does not let them affect the way he deals with us.

b) How did God forgive ‘in Christ’? We are told that Jesus pays the price for the sins. ‘It is finished’ means ‘It has been paid in full’ (John 19:30). The Father gave up his Son, and the Son gave up his life. God absorbed the cost in himself.

Tim Keller

At the heart of forgiveness is sacrificing one’s right to give them what they deserve, sacrificing one’s right to get even, and in this is freedom from the consuming fire of anger and wrath that come with being offended and wronged. The only way to find genuine forgiveness is to look to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the only way to be able to genuinely forgive others is to look to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God paid the price for our sins, so why do we have such a problem with the sins of others when we ourselves are sinful and never paid the price for our own sins?

It is a tough medicine to swallow, but if we are to live as the redeemed people of God in the world, we must learn to practice living the Gospel, not simply talking about it.

When the world sees someone respond and retaliate after having been offended or wronged, they say, “Well, that’s just as well. They had every right to do that.” When the world sees someone respond by giving an offender what they don’t deserve, it has no category to understand it and is left to only wonder, “What in the world could cause this incredible generosity and love? I could never do that. What is different with you to make you do differently? Why would you do that?”

You may have a friend, a loved one, a relative, or some acquaintance who has wronged or offended you. I don’t know your story. I don’t know what they have done. However, if you have been harboring anger, pain, and grudges, I would challenge you to sacrifice that and to forgive that person not on the basis of trying to “be a better person” but rather on the basis of the Gospel and in that you will find freedom from the anger, pain, and suffering that you have experienced contra what the world has told you about justly being angry and holding grudges (how is that working for you?).

Perhaps those examples I mentioned at the beginning of the drowning and suffocating used in the Francis Chan and dc Talk videos related to the Christian life will be even more real when you forgive someone and you are finally able to be free from the anger you had been drowning in, free from the anger that had been suffocating your life and your joy in Christ.

… and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… 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 6:12, 14-15

Tim Keller, “How to Forgive Others”