Some people may think they can be a follower of Christ, and even call themselves Christians, while they are unforgiving toward others, but they are self-deceived and living in darkness. They are not in right standing with God. Some may ask, why is forgiveness so important to God and why must we forgive everyone for the wrong they have done to us?
God in His love for all humanity sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the whole world. So that those who choose to believe in the death and the blood of Jesus as their payment for sin and accept Jesus as the Lord and King, they will have eternal life with Christ. To refuse to forgive a person is refusing the blood Jesus shed on the cross for all humanity.
John3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. NKJ
It is man’s pride and self-centeredness that causes them to hold on to their hurt, anger and resentment and thereby refuse to forgive others while they disobey God. He has commanded us to forgive so that we may be forgiven. They want God’s mercy and grace for the forgiveness of their sins and yet they will deny others that same grace, charity and forbearance. Often it is because they are stuck in the old mindset of fallen mankind where their vanity and self-importance, rise above the blood of Christ and His death. Our obedience should be to the word of God and the call of God to forgive.
Matthew 18:32-35 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother ]his trespasses.”
God was operating out of His true nature, which is love, when He sent Jesus to pay for our sins. He saw mankind in their sin and depravity and with great compassion He sent Jesus to be the propitiation or payment that they could not make for their own sins. The blood of Jesus and His death, is precious in the sight of God and yet He offered up His Son and Jesus gave His life that the world and all mankind could be forgiven. To refuse to forgive is to refuse the blood of Jesus, which to God our Father, was a great price that Christ paid for their offenses.
Many people have refused God’s offer of grace, His mercy and love, which is salvation through belief and faith in Jesus Christ. To all who believe by faith in Jesus’ completed work of redemption and choose to confess Him as their Lord, Savior and King before this world, they will be reborn into the family of God and have eternal life.
Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
1 John 2: 1b-2 And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Jesus had to die for us to be forgiven of God. It was the death and blood of Jesus that allows us to be forgiven and also allowsus to be in right standing with God. If God has forgiven our sins, who is man to bring a charge against someone when Jesus has died and paid their sin debt. God has made restitution for our freedom. Who is man to condemn or hold an offense toward another when we have been forgiven such a great debt of sin ourselves.
Romans 8:32-34 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Refusing to forgive someone is refusing the blood of Christ which was paid for everyone’s sin, that they may be forgiven. Refusing to forgive someone is not an act against that person but against God. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the one who committed the offense but everything to do with the heart of one who was offended. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God in us that our hearts are able to be free to forgive others. To refuse to forgive is to refuse the gift of God’s love in our lives.
Some people are waiting for an apology or an acknowledgement of the wrong doing by the person who did them wrong. They think they are justified in requiring the offender to confess and give an admission of guilt. That is because their pride is sitting on the throne of their heart while Jesus and the love of Christ has been dethroned. It is the love of Christ that indwells our heart through the Holy Spirit that give us the will and the strength to do God’s good pleasure and Hisgood work of forgiveness.
Philippians 2:13-14 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing,
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Forgiveness is not an option but a directive from our Lord and King! Forgiveness may not be a prerequisite, requirement or condition of salvation, but it is the evidence of true salvation! Forgiveness is the sign, the proof and the mark of authentic and sincere salvation, with the love of God ruling in our hearts and lives through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
God requires a forgiving heart. We are to forgive everyone, everything.
Integrity- People of God 
Comments on: "God Requires Forgiveness! We Are to Forgive Everyone, Everything!" (3)
This message that I have receive is* to forgive others as you want god to forgive you * no matter what I’m going though having not forgave someone for they wrong doing or have wrong me god will not forgive me if I haven’t done so, and I learn to forgive and move forward cause he already fixed it by me forgiving that person, Also asking god forgive me for my wrong doing if I have cause any . Message forgiveness*
But forgiveness doesn’t mean allowing people to stay in your space or to continuing to hurt. Sometime you you need space and distance to protect your mind soul and spirit.
Agreed , yes protecting your mind and soul and allowing yourself some space to heal, from that hurt, and, yes that doesn’t mean to continue to allow people in your space after you forgive them. Allow yourself some space and distance protect your mind and soul.