Keep Receiving HIs Grace -- Keep Forgiving Others

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 32) To the degree that you understand how forgiven you are, to that degree you are able to forgive others. The true element of forgiveness does not come through completely in this or other English translations. "Forgive" renders the word χαρίζομαι, charizomai, which means "to show favor, to give grace, to show mercy to". How does God show us mercy, or grace? "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." (John 1: 16) It's out of the fulness of Jesus Christ, who created the Universe, and through which all things consist (Colossians 1: 15-17) Jesus Christ is God, He who has been from the Beginning (John 1:1) That's a lot of grace: incalculable, innumerable, ineffable. Scripture confirms this lavish grace which God accords to us in Christ: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 20-21) Grace "superabounds", more than overcoming any sin or shame or setback in this world. Before this verse, Paul writes: "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive [lit. are receiving] abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17) We are called to keep on receiving this abundance of grace. It is a never-ending cascade of grace, one which has appeared to all men, which teaches us to say "No!" to sin and "Yes!" to every good thing that Christ has for us and wishes to do through us (Titus 2:11-12) The more that we grow in Grace and Knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18), the more gracious we become with our fellow men. We live by His grace (1 Corinthians 15: 10), our hearts are established by His grace (Hebrews 13: 9). In fact, we are made one with Christ through God's grace: "To the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he has made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6) In this verse "accepted" is better rendered "highly favored and full-graced". Keep receiving the revelation of God's grace in your life,  and you will have no problem at all forgiving others.