Climbing Mount Everest is a hard thing to do. Going all the way through med school and residency and becoming a full-fledged doctor is a hard thing to do. Carrying a baby for nine months and going through childbirth is a hard thing to do. Add to this list—forgiving someone who has wronged you. That’s a hard thing to do.
Can I give you two forgiveness-laden motivations to forgive? First, to be like Jesus, we must forgive. “Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Col. 3:12-13). Second, to be forgiven by Jesus, we must forgive. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Climbing a mountain, becoming a doctor and giving birth are hard, but they will not affect your relationship with Jesus or your eternal destiny. But forgiving others will.