Selwyn writes, in his conclusion: “What greater joy can there be than having a soul free of guilt? Confession and forgiveness are the way to achieve that. But there must be no half-confessions, no partial forgiveness. Both must be full and frank and free.”

We have already seen, over the past few days,  a number of quotes taken from Paul’s letters concerning forgiveness; today, we have one more: Ephesians 4:30-32 (NIV): ” … do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

We can, by the way we live our Christian life – attracted people to the gospel. It also means that we can turn people away (however, God always has the final say) if we are hypocrites - especially in the area of forgiveness. We might say that we forgive others who hurt us; but it means nothing if our actions don’t reflect God’s love to those people. Do you agree?