Forgiving Someone Who Did Not Say Sorry

We can find many verses in the bible that teach us the meaning and importance of forgiveness. As it is written in the book of Matthew 6:14-15, "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins." As humans, we do commit mistakes and sins toward one another. With a lot of people we mingle daily, we may have hurt some of them through our words or actions and same way happened to us also.

I remember an old friend who betrayed my trust yet never claimed her mistakes. During our confrontation, she denied spreading gossips about me in the class though many have come to witness. We never had another chance to talk again after that incident which ruined our friendship. I had hard time forgiving her that I even hated to hear anyone mention her name. What she did to me was so unforgettable or even unforgivable. There were times I heard my other classmates repeat the negative things she relayed to them, I became the talk of the class and I was very affected. Maybe there's a few who believed to the hearsay but they're outnumbered by those who were unconvinced.

I kept asking my reflection in the mirror, does learning not to forget what she did to me means never forgiving her? Somehow soon if we bump into each other unexpectedly, the word "Sorry" would be enough for me to forgive and forget everything. But, considering that we haven't met again, I'd like to make myself believe that perhaps she wanted to say sorry but couldn't find chances to tell me. For many years, both of us do not know our whereabouts.

Not only one person did something wrong to me, they're many in my list. But I realized that as Christians, we must set an example to everybody by our words, actions and attitude. Forgiving someone maybe hard to do but with the help of God, it can be possible. The pains inflicted by other people will be healed then. If we just open our hearts, we can easily forgive the ones who hurt us whether they have apologized or not. 

Remember, FORGIVENESS sets us free from hatred and bitterness.