Do you need to be set free? Honestly now, is your next step the need to forgive? Do it. Don't let anything or anyone talk you out of it. I know, I know. After all the misery you have had to endure, why should you have to be the one who humbles yourself and forgives?

Christ could have asked the same question at Golgotha. Perhaps He did at Gethsemane. But once He discerned the Father's determination, there was no looking back...no turning back.

Remember His cry from the cross? "Father, forgive them..." (Luke 23:34).

Look up "forgive" and "forgiveness" in your Bible concordance and read the Scriptures listed. One you will find there is:

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.