Forgiveness
F.B. Meyer on Matthew 5:23-24
Give unto us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, broken and contrite hearts. Help us to do all that ought to be done to make amends, and grant unto our brother the willingness to meet us with forgiveness and peace. So shall we have peace with Thee, our Elder Brother, against whom we have grievously sinned.
Matthew 6:14
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Philip Yancey What’s So Amazing About Grace?
The first and often the only person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiving…When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us.
Corrie Ten Boom
Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.
Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free.
Thomas Guthrie, Speaking To The Heart, 1873
https://books.google.com/books?id=R3CXCztzmmkC
“Fear, The Fruit of Divine Forgiveness”
To forgive man in any circumstances costs us nothing. Say that he has defrauded me; injured my reputation; attempted my life; and suppose such an enemy in my power; what does it cost me to forgive him?
To reduce him to poverty would make me no richer; to destroy his peace would not restore my own; to hurt him would not heal me; to break his heart would not bind up mine; to cast a blot on his reputation would restore no lustre to my name; to take his life, would not insure me against the stroke of death, nor lengthen my life by a single hour.
It is a happy memory that remembers kindness, and forgets offences. It is a far nobler thing to conquer one's passions than to crush a foe; and sweeter than gratified revenge are his feelings who, when his enemy hungers, feeds him; when he thirsts, gives him drink. In so doing, man exhibits somewhat of the nature, and tastes something of the happiness of God.
Warren Wiersbe
The most miserable prison in the world is the prison we make for ourselves when we refuse to show mercy. Our thoughts become shackled, our emotions are chained, the will is almost paralyzed. But when we show mercy, all of these bonds are broken, and we enter into a joyful liberty that frees us to share God's love with others.