If you forgive men when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
—Matthew 6:14
One of the hardest things you ever do is forgive someone who has intentionally hurt you. Your impulse is to retaliate, even the score, get revenge.
But revenge is too hot for humans to handle; drop it before you get burned. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil … Do not take revenge …” (Rom. 12:17, 19).
“If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:15). “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass,” said George Herbert.
Lewis Smedes nailed it: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
The strongest person is not the one
who fights, but the one who forgives.