As I read this passage in preparation for today's devotional, I thought about all the people who have hurt me and asked myself, "Have I forgiven all of them?" If I still held something against anyone who came to mind, I knelt down on my knees and told God that I forgive them. After this, I felt so much better than before I chose to forgive them.
When we come to God to ask for forgiveness for our sins, we need to ask ourselves if we have forgiven those who have wronged us. If we expect God to forgive us for our offences against Him, and if we are supposed to follow the example that God gave us through Jesus, shouldn't we also forgive those who have wronged us in the same way that Jesus asked God to forgive those who nailed Him to the cross? The answer is yes.
Sometimes, people in our life will continue to hurt us. We don't have to sit there and take the hurt, but we do have to forgive those who have hurt us. If someone keeps hurting us, we may need to cut them out of our life. However, we still need to forgive them.