Focus on Forgiveness

10/21/2026

When I am invited to speak at a church for the first time, I most always share what I call "The Four Biggest Missing Pieces in Most People's Understanding of Forgiveness." Here they are.

First. Sins, both our own and the sins committed against us actually damage our soul. Your soul is that part of you created in the image of God. It is your capacity to think like God, choose what God would choose, feel what God feels and have loving, personal relationships with other persons. The damage causes us to think differenlty than God, act selfishly, feel the emotions of sin (guilt, fear, shame, anger, hurt, depression, anxiety, etc.) and destroys our loving relationships. Practicing all aspects of real forgiveness is how God heals the human soul and restores broken relationships. But if a person does not believe that they are damaged and broken by sin, then they won't be looking for the only effective solution: real forgiveness.

Second. There are two sides to sin and forgiveness. Sin is like a coin. It has two sides. Every sin incurs a divine penalty because every sin is a crime against God. The divine penalty is physical ex*****on by God. AND every sin has negative consequences. Ever sin is a destructive act, like drinking poison, or putting your hand on a hot stove. Forgiveness is also like a coin. God forgives the divine penalty for all sins by executed Jesus in our places. God forgives the penalty for sin because Jesus paid for them all. And God forgives the consequences (changes them into something good) when the guilty person repents (takes their hand off of the hot stove).

Third. Jesus died for the people who sin against you. If we are the victim of someone's sin, God heals our soul when we forgive that person of the penalty of their siin because Jesus died for them, just as He died for us.
Fourth. Practicing forgiveness involves our heart, not just our minds. Sins are emotional experiences. So is practicing forgiveness. We must learn how to let ourselves feel the reality of sin, (both our own and the sins of others against us) together with God. In the same way, we need to learn how to feel the heart of God at the Cross of Jesus Christ. Paying for sin was an emotional experience for God. We need to feel His heart at the Cross, so as to overwhelm and empathize with our experiences of sins.

If you would like to know more about God gift of forgiveness, go to our website, www.ForgivenessMinistries.org and/or our YouTube channel, "Focus on Forgiveness - Steve Diehl." When you have questions, e-mail them to me. I'd be happy to answer them as best I can.

forgivenessministries.org
Forgiveness Ministries
Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

09/24/2026

Perhaps the most confusing part of biblical forgiveness is the failure to distinguish the difference between the forgiveness of the divine penalty for sins and the forgiveness of the negative consequences of sins.

Every sin is a crime against God who made and commanded us to love God and to love oneanother, just as He loves us. Every crime has a penalty. The divine penatly for any and every sin is death; physical ex*****on by God.

But every sin is also a destructive act. Every sin sets in motion a chain reation of negative consequences; physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relational, environmental, economic, political, etc. consequences. God calls these consequences "death" since they rob us of life.

God forgives the divine penalty for all of the sins of the world by laying them on the body of His Son, Jesus Christ, who volunteered for this, and then executing Him instead of executing us. God forgives us because Jesus died for us, in our places, to pay the penalty for our sins. God's justice has been satisfied through the death of Jesus. God has forgiven us of the divine penalty for our sins, meaning He no longer needs to execute or punish us, because He already punished Jesus. Hallelujah!!!

However, sins are still destructive. The sins we have committed in the past, and the sins committed against us, are killing us. God says He can and wants to forgive us of the consequences of these sins (i.e. heal us, reconcile us, restore us, etc.) but can only do that if we want to stop sinning (repent). God cannot save people from the consequences of sins people do not want to stop committing. Committing a sin is like putting your hand on a hot stove. You will get burned, not because God is punishing you, but because that is the natural consequence of putting you hand on a hot stove. God can heal your hand, forgive the consequence, but only if you take your hand off of the stove. He cannot heal a burnt hand that is still on the stove.

This is the pattern of how we are to forgive others. When people sin against us our hearts cry out for justice, for retribution, for revenge. We need to see them suffer for what they did to us. But when we believe and feel the truth the God punished Jesus for what they did to us, we can join with God in His forgiveness of them. Our heart's cry for justice can be satisfied at the Cross of Christ just as God's heart's cry for justice was satisfied there! We can forgive others because Jesus died for them, just as He died for us.

However, unless they repent, we should not forgive (lessen the negative consequences) of that sin. God does not forgive the negative consequences of unrepentant people, nor should we. If we do, we become co-dependant enablers of other people's sins. But when someone truly repents, and demonstrates it, we need to be ready and willing to lessen the consequences and lower the God-authorized boundaries we set up to protect ourselve and others from an unrepentant person.

We call the first side of forgiveness Personal Forgiveness because it is between you an God, even when you are forgiving someone else. Personal Forgiveness is releasing someone guilty of sin from having the pay the penalty for their sin in light of the fact that God has alreacy punished Jesus Christ in full to pay for their sins. This is what God has already done with every human being; "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." And this is what we can do when we believe that truth.

We call the second side of forgiveness Relational Forgiveness because it is the basis for a restored relationship. Relational Forgiveness is reducing the negative consequences of a sin appropriate to the guilty person's level of repentance. This is what God is doing with you when you repent, and what we need to do when other people repent.

This is why in the Bible forgiveness is sometimes spoken about as being unconditional, and sometimes conditional.

"When you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive..." Mark 11:25

and

"If someone sins against you, go and rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him..." Luke 17:3

How can forgiveness be both conditional and unconditional? It all depends on which side of sin is being forgiven. Understanding the two sides of sin and forgiveness is critical to practicing it effectively.

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

09/03/2026

Individuals sin against individuals.

Individuals sin against groups. i.e. one member of a family against the whole family, a boss against his/her employees, a politician against his/her constituents, a coach against his/her team, a pastor against his/her church, etc.

Groups sin against individuals. i.e. a family against one member of the family, a group of employees against a co-worker, a group of students against a fellow student, a church against their pastor, etc.

Groups sin against groups. i.e. a business against customers, whites against blacks, blacks against whites, a goverment against its populous, men against women, etc.

There is much more sin in this world than you probably realize. All sins damage your soul, affecting how you think, decide and feel. That damage affects all of our relationships. Practicing all aspects of forgiveness is how God heals your soul.

As you pray and ask God to show you the sins in your life, both the ones you have committed, and the ones committed against you, remember to consider sins you have committed against groups and groups have committed against you.

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

08/21/2026

One of the reasons I failed for two years to forgive my wife, Becky, for fifteen years of little sins was because I had been mistaught in the churches I grew up in. Not only was I mistaught in the churches, but I was also mistaught by the major Christian teachers on the radio as well.

In desperation, I finally prayed and told God that if He didn't show me how to get rid of my growing anger, not just suppress it, I didn't know where I'd be in five or ten years. I told Him that I must not know what real forgiveness was since I couldn't do it with my own wife for little sins! Then I asked Him to teach me, from the Bible only. That was the beginning of Forgiveness Ministries.

Since then I have documented over thirty-three ways to forgive taught by major Christian teachers, pastors, counselors and professors. I've documented these from over 70 different sources. Tragically, 22 of those ways do not include God in their steps to forgive. The rest include God, perhaps Jesus, in one or more of their steps, but none of them state that we can and should forgive others because Jesus died for their sins, just as He died for ours.

Believing that Jesus had been executed to pay the divine penalty for Becky's sins is how I came to forgive her, and be released of all my anger against her. I could do what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:26, "Be angrey, but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger..."

If you would like to see what is being taught in the church today about how to forgive, I just added a document to our Forgiveness Ministries website called, "Thirty-three Ways to Forgive???" There are many great and helpful directions in many of them, but not even God can forgive without the Cross of Christ, so how could we? As He says in Hebrews 9:22, "...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

Check out this document at www.ForgivenessMinistries.org under "Resources" and then, "Free Downloads." Download it for free. Print it. Share it with others. And then learn to practice forgiveness the way God does. He will heal you and set you free.

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

08/20/2026

I want to build into our website answers to the most asked questions about forgiveness. I have my list, but I am sure I am missing some. Would you please share with me three of the most important questions about forgiveness you have? Send to me at [email protected]. Thank you.

08/18/2026

I will be on KFAX radio, at 5:00 this evening with Craig Roberts on his Life!line program. KFAX is in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you miss it, you can listen to it later this week on their website, KFAX.com.

08/15/2026

I have been updating our website. I would appreciated if you would check it out and offer suggestions.

I also added last month's interview with Craig Roberts about our new book, "Why Jesus Died -- Sixty-five Reasons Why Jesus Went to the Cross" on our audio resources.

I will be again on Life!line with Craig this Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. (pst) on KFAX radio, 1100 am in the San Francisco Bay Area. What would you like us to talk about regarding forgiveness? Let me know and I will suggest it to Craig.

Also, I have reorganized our YouTube channel, "Focus on Forgiveness." YouTube now has ways to create learning courses, which include additional ways to learn beyond the videos. I am still working on adding all that, but I am building a Course on Forgiveness.

I also added to the channel the videos to our "Unwrapping the Gift of Forgiveness" seminar. If you went to a seminar and want to see one again, or never had the opportunity to do so, it is not on our YouTube channel. If you don't already have one, you will want to order the workbook that goes with the seminar to get the most out of it. You can purchase that through our website,

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

07/20/2026

I will be on the radio live tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 5:00 pm pst on KFAX radio, 1100 am. Craig Roberts will be interviewing me on his show Life!line. We will be talking about my new book, "Why Jesus Died--Sixty-five Reasons Why Jesus Went to the Cross."
You can listen live or recorded on their website, www.KFAX.com.
You can get your copy of the book on Amazon.

AM 1100 KFAX is San Francisco's premier Christian teaching and talk radio station, featuring national ministries, local pastors, Christian lifestyle content, and community events. Grow closer to God with Bible teaching ministries.

07/15/2026

How do you know when a toaster is broken?
When it doesn't work the way it was designed to work.

How can we know when a human soul is broken?
When it doesn't work the way God designed it to work.

God designed human beings in His image, to be able to think, act and love the way He loves.

Sins damage everything they touch, including the human soul. As our Lord Jesus said, "The theif comes only to steal, kill and destroy..." John 10:10

Every human being has sinned and has been sinned against. Every human being has be damaged by sins. Every human being is broken, does not function the way God designed us to function.

God heals the human soul when a person practices real forgiveness, the one made possible through Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection. This is why Jesus answered Peter the way in did in Matthew 18:21-35.

Your soul has been damaged by sins, both your sins and the sins of others committed against you. If you want God to heal you, so you can think, act and love more like God, then you must practice real forgiveness; receiving God's forgiveness and forgiving others.

Not practicing forgiveness leaves you broken, frustrated, worn out, depressed, angry, self-condemned, etc.

God has made forgiveness possible through Jesus Christ. The gift and the opportunity is yours. What do you want to do with it?

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.

06/29/2026

Practicing real forgiveness is like riding a bicycle. Once you learn it you never forget it. However, until you learn to ride a bicycle, you'll probably fall off several times. If you are finding yourself falling off;
-not feeling loved by God
-unsure of your future
-trapped in incomfortable emotions of anger, depression, guilt or shame
-unable to love your enemy
-angry at God
-feeling of self-condemnation
-certain people or situations trigger you to anger
-unable to set appropriate boundaries in relationships
-addicted to particular substances, behaviors or emotions
then, please, for your own sake, and for the people around you, learn to ride the bicycle of forgiveness.
It is more than worth you time and it will take you to wonderful places you've never been before, because God will heal you!

Learn what real forgiveness is, why it is so important for inner healing and loving relationships, and how to practice it.