Unforgiveness and the Power of PardonSample

Vertical Forgiveness 

Forgiveness is, first and foremost, vertical in nature. That's because all our offenses are ultimately committed against God, which means every one of us needs to receive His pardon for our sins and failures.

In Matthew 18, Jesus told His disciples a parable to help them understand the concept of vertical forgiveness. A master had a servant who owed him 10,000 talents—millions of dollars in today's world. The servant would have never been able to pay off such a huge debt, but even so, he begged for his master's patience, promising to pay it all back. The master could have imprisoned the servant or require that he labor endlessly to repay part of the debt, but instead, he felt compassion for his helpless condition and forgave him the entire debt.

This parable illustrates the depth of our need and the height of God's forgiveness. The application is simple: God is the master, and we are all His debtors when it comes to sin. Like the servant, our debt is beyond our ability to ever repay. You might promise God that you're going to get your act together and pay that debt yourself, but the truth is that you are utterly bankrupt before the Lord.

Only by recognizing your spiritual poverty before God can you receive the forgiveness He offers you. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). You need to acknowledge your helpless condition caused by your sin and realize the impossibility of your own efforts to save yourself, then humbly turn to the Savior and ask for His pardon.

The moment you do that, your mountain of debt to God is paid in full forever—because He paid it. God saw us in our misery, unable to work our way out of our debt, and sent His Son to die for our sins, thereby releasing us from the penalty and power of sin and wiping our slate clean. That's salvation.

Only after experiencing the compassionate outpouring of God's grace and forgiveness in our lives are we then able to extend it to those who have wronged us. This is the first step you must take. Have you personally experienced this vertical forgiveness? All you have to do is ask for it.