Jesus tells us in the Bible to love God and to love others. Loving others includes forgiving and repenting. Today we shall try to understand forgiveness and its meaning. We have a wonderful God. When He forgives us, He no longer remembers our sin. Sin is doing wrong. Sin makes your heart dirty. Sin makes God sad. He cannot hear your prayers when you let sin remain in your heart. The good news is that if you tell God what you have done wrong and tell Him you are sad about it too, He will forgive you and make your heart clean again (1 John 1:9) When you ask God to forgive your wrong doing and you mean it, He forgives you. Sin is erased from God’s mind- He does not remember it anymore. Then you can be close friends and He will hear your prayers. Asking Forgiveness and giving forgiveness What does it mean to forgive and someone? Sometimes people do not say that they are sorry when they do something wrong to you. Should you forgive them and why? Let us think about what Jesus did when people hurt him. The Bible tells us what Jesus said to those who put Him on the cross. Before He died Jesus prayed to the Father saying, “Father forgive them for they do not understand what they are doing.” God wants you to be like Jesus- to forgive all those who hurt you. Your love and forgiveness will help others know about Jesus. Triple A’s about forgiveness 1) Agree with God- He says, “Forgive others as I have forgiven you.” 2) Act- Tell the person who has hurt you, “I forgive you, lets be friends.” 3) Ask- Ask God to help you not to think about the hurt anymore. This is what God wants us to do when we are hurt. Ends
