And in neither case should we fear to forgive as though there were no settling of accounts in the universe. It cost God his Son. And it will cost us the sweet taste of revenge and the pleasure of savoring a grudge and the pride of superiority. There is no sham in it. When he forgives, we are really restored.
Nothing is held over our heads for later blackmail.
And so fall short of our divine pattern if we forgive a wrong but secretly plan to keep it in the back of our minds for a later touche. When we forgive, let us really forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave us. That is the pattern of God's forgiveness and four things we can learn from it in pursuing the path of kindness. The love of Christ for us is undeserved, and so we shouldn't insist that people earn our love and our kindness either. None of us has ever qualified to be loved by Jesus Christ.