The word forgiveness means to release or to let go. It is as if someone owes you a great sum of money, and you forgive the debt and tell them they do not owe it to you anymore.
We all owe God a great debt because we have sinned and fallen away from God. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
To experience God’s forgiveness, we must sincerely tell Him we are sorry for our sins and ask Him to forgive us our sins. We can be forgiven because God, 2,000 years ago, sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins and pay the penalty for our sins. We owe a great penalty we cannot pay, but Jesus Christ paid our debt for us.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God forgives us of our sins and makes us a child of God. That is how we can know and experience God’s love and forgiveness.