Forgiveness is one of the most spiritual acts you can do. Nothing makes you more like God than when you forgive. But a question I often get is: "Why can't I forgive? I tried and it didn't work."

Why Can't I Forgive?

There are many reasons why forgiveness doesn't "work." As I've said in other posts, and in my book STUCK, we often have a wrong idea of what forgiveness is. Forgiveness isn't forgetting, excusing, trusting, reunion, conditional, or a feeling. Forgiveness is giving up the right to get even. It’s choosing not to retaliate.

Another reason we can't forgive is that we try to do it on our own. We don't include God in the process...and it IS a process. Again, I outline this process in my book STUCK. From admitting your anger, to grieving your loss, to reframing your offender, and more, God needs to be a part of every step. It's a great lesson in prayer, asking God to help you with each step.

Why Can't I Forgive? The Secret to Forgiveness

There is a simple mistake many people make that prevents them from ever forgiving: they put their focus on what THEY are trying to do (forgive) and not what GOD wants to do in them.

Let me explain. The average forgiver knows they need to forgive to honor God and move on with their life. But the problem is, they are so hurt, when they think of forgiving their offender, all they can do is think about how they were offended. They barely make it out of the gate before they get thrown off their game. Look at the wedge in this circle.

The wedge represents the loss in your life. This is what was taken from you. Most people want their offender to put back what they took. In some rare cases they might be able to do that. But even then, there is still the hurt that they did it in the first place.

In most cases your offender either doesn't want to restore what they took or they are unable to. Yet you keep expecting something from them: restoration, repentance, humility, a sincere apology, etc. That's probably not going to happen, and so it just makes it really hard to forgive them.

Instead, what you need to do is bring your loss to God. Rather than focusing on your offender and what you want from them, ask God to fill up your loss. Ask HIM to restore you. This might sound simplistic, but it is the secret to your being able to forgive and move on.

You see, as long as you feel the loss… as long as you are aware of what was taken from you, it will be hard for you to forgive. Forgiveness is a generous act and generosity comes out of the overflow of your life. You will never overflow with forgiveness by focusing on what your offender took from you. But if you ask God to fill up your losses, he will do that and more. Then you will be able to offer forgiveness and move on with your life.

Why Can't I Forgive? God's fullness is the answer.

The apostle Paul prayed that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). That's what it takes to forgive others. And when you are filled to God's fullness, Paul says that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

The truth is, you CAN forgive. You just need to put your focus in the right place.

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