“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God…” (Dan 9:19).
One reason we should forgive—and sincerely pray for (see Mt 5:44)—those who do us wrong is the consistently forgiving heart of God. Why does He forgive me? Because I deserve it? No, it is for His own sake, simply because that’s the kind of God He is (see also Isa 43:25). He wants happy endings, resolved conflicts, restored relationships, overflowing grace.
But there is another reason we should be ready to forgive: not only because of the way God treats us when we have acted wrongly, but because of how we are ready to treat ourselves! C.S. Lewis surprises us with this thought: “There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is—me.” This may not be a Bible verse, but to forgive others really is divine!