Episode 374: I’m Talkin…Forgive

I’m Talkin, episode 374 for June 15, 2025.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking forgive.

The word forgive can be kind of a foreign topic in today’s world.

It’s not something that comes naturally, I don’t think.

It’s much more common, maybe, to hold a grudge, and it’s very hard to forgive because someone has wronged you or done something against you.

Maybe they’ve spoken behind your back about you to other people.

I mean, the list of things that can be done to you is maybe almost endless.

And what inside a person would cause them to want to forgive?

That is not something that comes natural to us as humans.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Today’s word comes from Mark 11, verse 25, which says, But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your heavenly Father will forgive your sins, too.

So this is a very challenging verse because it says that we have to forgive to be forgiven by God.

And that feels like it goes against the earlier verses from just this week.

And the verses for the last few weeks have been on how God is forgiving our sins.

And it says he separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

And in another of the verses in Isaiah, it said, Come now, let’s settle this, says the Lord.

Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.

There’s nothing in those verses that talks about quid pro quo.

In other words, you do for me, I do for you.

And so this verse becomes a very tough verse when you read it straight out in that English.

And so what does it mean?

Well, I think a lot of it has to do with your attitude.

One, in this verse, it talks about when we pray.

If we expect our prayers to be heard and to be effective, we need to not be holding a grudge against anyone else.

Or those prayers become less effective.

It’s just the way that God has set up his system to work.

And so in a sense, we have to have the forgiving attitude that God has towards us.

It’s like it doesn’t matter what the other person did.

It matters how we react.

Are we willing to forgive others?

And then we see that God is willing to forgive us.

Not because of our actions, but because of who he is and because we are becoming more like him.

And so our attitude of forgiveness to others helps us have a better prayer life.

It helps us to have a better attitude in life in general.

And it helps us to live like Christ.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.