What to do when others don’t want you to forgive. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinth ..read more

How did God Forgive Us?   Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32   Forgiveness is such a central part of the Gospel message that no true believer would ever say that forgiveness is a bad idea. We often meet with people who believe that they have forgiven yet are still very much in torment, which is an indicator that they have, in fact, not forgiven. Much of the teaching that is out there about ..read more

We live in an incredibly independent culture. “Mind your own business and stay out of mine” is a motto many, if not most, people live by. But what if that’s not God’s way? What if, rather than being independent, God has designed us to be interdependent? What if we really are our brother’s keeper?   Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd. In the course of time, both brothers brought an offering to the Lord, Cain from his crops and Abel from his flocks. For reasons that are much debated, the Lord honored Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. As a result, C ..read more

Helping Others Forgive Recently I had the privilege of officiating a wedding on the beach near Destin, Florida. While scheduling the trip, we added an extra day to relax on the beach before we flew home. The wedding weekend fell in the middle of a very busy season for us, and we were looking forward to just a little bit of alone time listening to the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. We got up early the day after the wedding and rented a beach umbrella with two chairs. After spending a little time with the bride and groom before they left, we settled into our chairs with a couple of books to enjoy ..read more

Being a Friend to Your Enemy This blog is being published between the day our nation recognizes the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of the next President of the United States of America after one of the most divisive elections in our nation’s history. The legacy and dream of Dr. King and the current state of our national and political climate could not be in sharper contrast.  We are a nation at war with itself. While we may not be firing actual rockets at each other, the intent seems to be to destroy through slander, accusations, distortions, and outright lies ..read more

How to successfully transition into the 2021 New Year It is hard to believe that we are just a couple of days away from exiting 2020 and launching into 2021. This year has given a new meaning to “hindsight is 2020” which now means “get this into the rear-view mirror!” Yet through all the chaos, fear, divisiveness, conflict and frustration, God has shown Himself to be faithful. He has been and forever will be faithful and true by His very nature and we have continuously seen His hand of protection and provision this year. So how do we  successfully transition into the New Year when so much ..read more

Why pride is one of the biggest reasons why people will not forgive Bart Blair: Do you think that there are many people who have a forgiveness issue? Toni Hebel: I do believe there are many people who have a forgiveness issue. Because if they didn't, they would forgive. But most people don't. I just received a letter yesterday from a lady in response to a blog post we sent out who said, "Don't bring this up to me. I'm trying, we're doing our best. The world's doing their best to forgive and so don't hold us accountable to that." That was a red flag to me, that forgiveness was an issue with he ..read more

How Forgiving Past Wounds Transforms Present Relationships In a simple but hard ten-minute span of time, we witnessed 17 years of torment drop off of Brad. Brad reached out to us, after someone on a social media site had recommended our book Forgiving Forward to him. For 17 years Brad had been seeking help from any person, any source, any place—including social media, that would help him get free of the torment that gripped him day and night. “It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night.”   17 years ago, Brad ..read more

Forgiveness and Repeat Offenders Many people ask, “How can I forgive them when I know that it’s going to keep happening?” That is not an insignificant question. We all have those “repeat offenders” in our lives that wound us on a regular basis. How long do we “put up with it?” Isn’t there a limit to how often I should forgive?  The struggle is not new. Peter posed the same question to Jesus in Matthew 18:21 asking, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me? Is 7 times enough?” Peter knew that the religious leaders of his day taught that you had to forgive if s ..read more

The Foundational Reason We Forgive Recently someone recommended a movie to us about forgiveness. We know one of the main actors personally and enjoyed the well-written movie very much. As you might imagine given the Forgiving Forward message we carry, I was quite interested to see how the concept of forgiveness was developed in the film.  As the story unfolded, it dawned on me why I am often left with a disappointed feeling when I watch movies, hear sermons, or read books on the subject of forgiveness. To be clear, it was a good movie with a common plotline. There was a tragic event which ..read more