God's concept of love is so radically different from our own. We tend to love what we like. He loves what is in our best interest. We are inclined to forgive when we think it is in our best interest to do so. He wants us to forgive when it is in the best interest of someone else to do so. We are inclined to embrace what is comfortable and to avoid what brings pain. He tells us, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good" (Rom. 12:9).
Loving others requires that we be willing to forgive. Forgiving others requires that we be willing to love. Both require an ever-deepening relationship with God to make us a reflection of His good heart to those with whom we have relationships. For then, and only then, is love "made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him" (1 Jn. 4:17 NIV).
This ability to love and forgive can begin only when we have first been forgiven by God. Have you taken that first step? Have you experienced the joy of a restored relationship with God through the forgiveness of your sins that He offers through faith in His Son? If not, humble yourself, acknowledge your inability to pay the debt of your sin, ask Him to forgive you, and accept His gift of forgiveness. The debt has been paid. The offer stands.
Accept Christ today and begin to experience the freedom to forgive others as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.