Giving The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men.

Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.

Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.

Forgiveness is God's command.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

At the time, I didn't know what forgiveness meant. I wouldn't really know what forgiveness meant for another year, until my pastor, Rick McKinley, happened to spell it out in a sermon. He said that when you forgive, you bear the burden somebody has given you without holding them accountable.

Asking forgiveness involves giving power to the person you're seeking forgiveness from.

What do you think Jesus is gonna say if we come walking up to those pearly gates carrying a whole sackful of grievances and grudges on our backs? Jesus is gonna ask, What's that you toting there on your back? Do you want to be opening that sack and showing Him all those ugly things? He's dressed all in white and shining like the sun, and you're coming in with a load of hate in your arms? Umm hmm. I can't imagine doing that.

Bitterness is one of the deadliest emotions we ever feel. You can't look forward when you're bitter, only backward—thinking about what you've lost, stuck in the past, despairing because it's gone. In the end, it devours all hope.

Forgiveness is the weapon. Our choices moving forward are the battlefield. Moving on is the journey.

Forgiveness releases to the Lord your need for them to be punished or corrected, giving it to the only One who can do this with right measures of justice and mercy.

I only needed to bring my willingness to forgive, not the fullness of all my restored feelings.