Conditional Forgiveness: Don't Forgive Them Just Yet

"Don't forgive them" is probably not the content of a sermon most people have ever heard. The Bible teaches us to hold back forgiveness in certain occasions in order to preserve relationships. We're told to always forgive, but it is never in absence of repentance. We are told to be "forgiving," careful to remove the log in our own eye first. A better understanding of repentance and forgiveness will ideally lead to the healing of unnecessary fractures that we have created, and unfortunately, we have many times done so in the name of Christ.