How to Know God Forgives You

Did you know God forgives you even when you don’t forgive yourself? Understanding how to know God forgives you can bring peace and assurance in your spiritual journey. In this blog, I would like to discuss forgiveness. Has someone in your life wronged you more than once? You keep forgiving them, and they keep hurting you. Peter likely thought of someone like this when he asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

When you know people abuse your kindness, you don’t want to forgive them. However, God expects you to continue forgiving them. The realization of how to know God forgives you can help you extend forgiveness towards others. The only way you can truly forgive someone is to experience God’s love. God expressed His amazing love when He offered up His Son as a sacrifice on the cross. His sacrifice redeemed us from death and paid the ultimate debt that you or I could never pay.

What It Means to Pardon Someone

To forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for a misunderstanding, an offense, or a flaw. Right? Not so fast! When God forgives, He makes a deliberate decision that is not influenced by His emotions. God does not say, “I forgive you, but I’m never gonna forget the time you lied about going to church.” Understanding how God forgives can transform your perspective on forgiveness.

When we forgive someone, it does not necessarily mean that we stop feeling angry. Some people say we should forget the offense when we pardon someone. To pardon is to make a conscious decision to both release and forgive the offender, understanding that they are not held accountable for their actions in the eyes of God.

Too often, we let our feelings get in the way of true forgiveness. It’s reassuring to acknowledge and accept our emotions of hurt. You know, ‘you’re going to pay for what you did to me,’ feeling. But the only way to truly overlook, pardon, or otherwise excuse someone who has hurt you is to release them from the prison that you are keeping them in. This act of release brings a sense of relief and freedom that can only be experienced through God’s love. Realizing how to know God forgives you mirrors the act of releasing others in forgiveness.

Today, you can experience His love by inviting Him into your life. God loves you affectionately. His remarkable love, expressed through the sacrifice of His Son, has the power to transform your life. When Jesus paid the sin debt with His life, God forgave you. The way to receive that forgiveness is by faith in the redemptive work of His Son.

Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Let’s explore the ‘parable of the Unforgiving Servant’ to understand the depth of forgiveness in God’s kingdom.

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”
Matthew 18:23-34 NLT

Why We Could Never Pay the Debt

The servant whom the king pardoned owed ten thousand talents. One denarii is the equivalent of one day’s work in today’s money. One talent equals 6,000 denarii or 6,000 days’ wages. Assuming that one day’s wage is $100, it would take an ordinary laborer about 16 years to earn one talent, which equals $600,000. The servant in this parable owed his Master 10,000 talents. It would have taken him 160 years to pay his debt of 10,000 talents. No one lives that long. Although this servant owed an incredible debt that he could never repay, his Master showed compassion, was merciful toward him, and forgave his debt.

We could never pay the debt we owe for sin. But Christ, being compassionate, paid our debt in full at the cross. Hence, the kingdom of heaven operates on the principle of forgiveness. It is God’s will that we live our lives based on this principle.

Why We Should Pardon Others

Jesus paid a debt that we could never pay. Therefore, He expects us to forgive others as He forgave us. The Lord does not want us to be like the ungrateful servant. After his master forgave him, he found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. A hundred denarii –equivalent to 100 days of work – is approximately $10,000. He demanded that he pay him. And even though his fellow servant begged for mercy, he still threw him into prison and vowed to leave him there until he had paid all that he owed.

To Forgive is A Choice

To forgive is a choice. There’s an old saying, “What goes around comes around.” It’s another way of saying, “You will reap what you sow.” The unforgiving servant had every opportunity to show mercy and compassion to his fellow servant, but he chose to be selfish. He forgot how his master forgave him for a much more outstanding debt. Don’t hold someone captive to your selfish pride. Before you harden your heart against someone else, think back over your life and remember the many times that God forgave you when you didn’t deserve it.

Your Sin Debt is Paid in Full

Imagine a man, beaten beyond recognition, seeing his flesh torn from his body. Watching people repeatedly punch him and snatch fistfuls of hair from his face. He had been telling people he was a king for several years, so they made a crown of 6-inch thorns and shoved them into his head. They continually struck him on his head and spat on him. In front of crowds of people, they stripped him of his robe, put a fabulous garment on him, and mocked him as a king (John 19:1-16). As if this cruel torture was not enough, they put a cross on his back and forced him to carry it up a hill, where they would nail his hands and feet to the cross and hoist it high on top of the hill for all to see. That’s what Jesus did for you.

Love in Action

The same people He healed shouted, “Crucify him!” This must have been a horrible ordeal for Him. Yet, He endured all of this cruelty for you and me. You might be wondering, “Why did He do it?” Jesus endured this torture because he understood the true meaning of forgiveness. Even as He hung on the cross, He called out to His Father and asked that He forgive those who had done this to Him (Luke 23:34). Jesus was the perfect example for us to follow. With His life, He demonstrated why you should forgive. The lesson is a simple one: Forgive because God forgave you.

So, the next time you wonder if God is angry with you for something you did or said, remind yourself of what He did for you on that awful day on Calvary. His gift of love is how you know God forgave you: He gave His life that you might live. Understanding how to know God forgives you can bring comfort in times of doubt.