God is a (for)giver the way ducks are quackers (Volf 2005:69).
Forgiveness is at the very heart of the God's character of God. The Bible is unequivocal about the need to forgive

You can't get forgiveness from God for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part (Mt 6:14).

Forgiveness is a gift we give to others. It is a gift not a transaction and there are no terms involved in giving a gift. It is not a negotiation where the other person has to accept the conditions on offer. Receiving forgiveness is dependant on repentance but giving forgiveness is not. Forgiving is an intention rather than a feeling.
This means that it is not a single moment in time – One day we might feel forgiveness and the next day he be angry and feel the same pain all over again. Genuine forgiveness is written in blood – the pain remains but the poison has gone.

Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves since non-forgiveness comes from a lack of hope; it is a sullen resignation that things will not change. We are chained by the idea that events will repeat themselves.
In a school assembly a 10-year-old child shot his hand up at the end of a sketch on forgiveness. "Please Sir", he gasped, "…if you don't forgive you are frightened that it will all happen again.

To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest. It is also a process that does not exclude hatred and anger. There emotions are all part of being human. You should never hate yourself for hating others who do terrible things: the depth of your love is shown by the extent of your anger (Desmond Tutu www.theforgivenessproject.com).

Forgiveness is also within the very nature of our beings. Imagine our lives as a piece of music. We have heard it played by a virtuoso. We love it and would like to play it well. But try as we might, we fail.
The process of being able to play our music beautifully can start with our being willing to forgive

Volf, M. (2005) Free of Charge, Grand Rapids, Zondervan