Jesus spoke of the human dimension of forgiveness. A firm condition for the receiving of God's forgiveness is the willingness to forgive others. The forgiven life is the forgiving life. Human forgiveness reflects our experience and understanding of divine forgiveness. We cannot know the Christ of the Cross if we refuse to forgive.
Love is what governs forgiveness.
The fifth petition in the Lord s Prayer in Matthew 6 includes the clause as we also have forgiven our debtors. Here, our Savior shows us the necessity and importance of forgiveness and how to sustain it in the Lord. God forgives us our wrongs relative to the way we forgive those who wrong us. If we are to seek mercy from God, we must be ready to show mercy. Let us, therefore, not make light of the matter of personal forgiveness.