The bond of brotherhood is love. True love strives in an atmosphere of forgiveness. The church is a family. To grow together as a family, we must love one another. In loving one another, we must forgive one another.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that it is impossible that offenses will not come. Offenses will come. Friends will offend us. Relatives will offend us. Colleagues in the office will offend us. Neighbors in the community will offend us. Offenses are inevitable. Therefore we must have a forgiving spirit.
When we forgive, we should not keep in remembrance the evil that the offender has done to us. The Lord our God forgives and forgets. He says that he will not remember our iniquities and transgressions. If God whose memory is wider and bigger than ours could forget, why can't we ourselves forget the evil that men do to us.
The reason why it is difficult for us to forget the bad things that others do to us is because we are not working in love. If we are working in love, we will not always remember the offenses of others. A heart of love thinks good alone about others.