Why do we urge Forgiveness?

       
“You cannot afford to withhold forgiveness.  Nothing will destroy your life more surely, for there is a great hidden grief in the denial of forgiveness.  Your heart is so heavy from what you have not forgiven that you bear the offenses of another as if they were your own.  Souls are punishing themselves because of what they cannot forgive.  It is for this reason that in forgiving yourself, you are actually forgiving old injury from others.  Within the human perspective, forgiveness simply means to release.  The patterns that entangle a soul in grief and guilt are often complex, but the result of forgiveness is simple: you are free!
“It is not within human authority to offer complete exoneration from error.  That power is reserved alone for the One who created all things.  You cannot prevent exoneration by withholding your forgiveness or by judging.  You cannot insure exoneration by punishing yourself or others.  You can, however, determine how your life and character are shaped by what you experience.  If you would be free and restored to health and immortality…forgive!” 

       

The Keys of Jeshua, Chapter 14, p. 175-76