Welcome to Paul Tripp's Wednesday's Word podcast.

I'm Dalton from the Paul Tripp Ministries team,

and each week I'll read aloud Paul's popular Wednesday's word devotional,

short, powerful reflections that connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

You can get each week's devotional straight to your inbox by subscribing at

Paultrip.com slash Wednesday or find it anytime on our website, the Paul Trip app,

or on Facebook and Instagram.

This week, Paul explains that biblical forgiveness begins by entrusting offenses to God,

but relational forgiveness requires confession of real sin.

Here's this week's Wednesday's word.

Our resolution for the first month of 2026, although it should be a gospel commitment every day of the year,

is to cancel debts and offer forgiveness.

We have established a definition of forgiveness, a vertical commitment with God, followed by a horizontal transaction with the offending party.

We've unpacked what forgiveness is not, eating the offense, acting as though nothing happened,

calling wrong right, turning a blind eye to sin, and hoping that by sweeping it under the rug,

the problem disappears.

But I have to add a third dimension to our discussion of forgiveness.

You cannot relationally forgive someone who's not asked for it.

The biblical pattern is this.

Someone confesses, you forgive. That's why you go to them.

You go as God's instrument with the hope that their eyes will be opened, that their heart will be

grieved, and that they will respond by confessing their sin and asking for your forgiveness,

...