When people are younger they have a hard time understanding the concept of forgiveness. For me, it was just a crazy word my parents used when I was upset with my brother. I would always say “I forgive you,” but I never knew what those words meant exactly. My mother would say it was what I was supposed to do. For the longest time I could not understand what the point of forgiveness was. How am I supposed to forgive someone when they hurt me or make fun of me? I just couldn’t understand how people could forgive one another.
Now that I’m older, I understand what it means to forgive someone. In the Bible it says how there are two types of forgiveness: one we receive from God, and the other is people forgiving people who sinned against them. It is a sin to not forgive those who sin against us, therefore, we must always forgive those who sin towards us. The Bible says it like this in Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. This tells us that no matter how hard it is we still have to forgive those who sin against us.

I remember one time when I was eight and my brother was ten, he was playing basketball with his friend. I didn’t like to play sports, so I was over in the yard playing by myself, making a lot of noise. Then suddenly, my brother turned around and threw the ball at me. I wasn’t paying attention, so it hit me right in the face. I had a double bloody nose, and was crying like a baby. My mom came rushing out the house, and started yelling at my brother. I don’t know what was wrong with me, but for some reason, even though I was bawling, I wasn’t mad at my brother. I felt this weird feeling like it wasn't really my brother who threw that ball, but his friend telling him to do it. When he came over to say he was sorry, I immediately forgave him. My mom was very surprised and impressed by me forgiving him so fast. I admit to being surprised myself, but I knew I had just done the right action.

It took me a very long time to finally understand how people could forgive one another, but that was nothing compared to me learning about the forgiveness of God. How could God still love, and forgive us when we have done so many despicable deeds? I had, of course, heard the story in the Bible, but for the longest time I didn’t understand what it truly meant. Now that I’m older, and saved, I finally understand what the forgiveness of God is.

When God created us in his image, he created us perfect, and able to be with him forever. When we first sinned it closed that easy access to God. People now had to sacrifice the animals that God gave us in order for us to be forgiven. Then thousands of years later, God gave us the greatest gift of all, his son dying on the cross. This allowed us to be closer to God. All we had to do was accept his son as our lord and He’d forgive us. This is what true forgiveness is. God created us, but we turned on him in the worst kind of way. But instead of enacting his wrath on us, he showed us compassion, and gave us a way to be forgiven. I can’t think of a better example of forgiveness than that.

Forgiveness, however, isn’t just others forgiving other people; sometimes it’s a person forgiving themselves. When they do a horrible occurrence either towards themselves, or another person, it can be very difficult to forgive themselves. Even when the other person has truly forgiven them, it can still be extremely difficult to forgive yourself. I had to learn that when I was very young.

I was six years old, and my brother and I were playing in our bedroom. We were being very rough, pushing each other. I pushed him too hard one time, and he fell into the corner of the wall. He started screaming, and he had a gash right above his eye. I was scared, so I tried to muffle his screams with a blanket. It didn’t work. My mother came into the room a few seconds later, and took my brother to the hospital. I was crying the entire time we were at the hospital. When we got back, I went over to my brother and told him I was sorry. He was still crying, but he said it was okay.

Even though my brother had forgiven me, I was still upset with myself. I felt so guilty that, first I had hurt him, then I tried to cover it up. How could my brother forgive me so easily, when I couldn’t even forgive myself? I was only six, but I felt this pain for hurting my older brother. I held that pain for a long time until I finally let it go and forgave myself.   

Forgiveness is more than just saying “I forgive you." It’s truly forgiving the person of their wrong. It’s never holding that wrong against that person again. Forgiveness is turning the other cheek, and holding no grudges. It’s befriending that person after they have wronged you. It’s showing compassion towards an enemy. Forgiveness is a lot of things, but most importantly it is the gift God gave us so we can be with him forever.