- 21Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
I think most of us are like Peter and believe that forgiving a handful of times or maybe a little more is pretty good. However Jesus teaches us that forgiveness needs to be much larger and deeper than that. I do not believe that Jesus taught us this so that we can "keep count" and stop forgiving at 490 times. Rather I believe that He is instructing us that we are forgive and forgive and forgive again and again ... etc... Part of the markings of our faith should be a forgiving heart and spirit.
So why is this on my heart? Because I often see and hear of people who are holding grudges and harboring bad feelings about their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is wrong. No matter how righteous you feel, no matter how justified you feel you position is ... we are called to forgive. This is not some optional teaching but it is instruction from our Lord.
Some people believe that they can forgive but still they mis treat the other person. We must learn about forgiveness from the One who forgave us of so very much. When God forgave you of your sins, did He hold you at a great distance? No He grabbed you and held you in His arms. Did He continue to remind you of all your wrong doing and make sure that you always felt bad about it? No He brought you freedom and peace and joy, He washed you clean. Did He forgive you once and after that hold a grudge because you are a "repeat" offender? No, He continues to forgive us and to hold us and walk with us so that we might be transformed by His grace.
Does this mean that there is no consequence for the transgression? No there is always a consequence for sin. In the spiritual realm, Jesus paid the price, took our punishment so that we can freely have a relationship with God. In the earthly realm we need to choose to forgive others and then to help them to learn so that they do not continue to hurt people. Sometimes there needs to be punishment for part of that process. Not only to help the offender to learn but to help others learn and avoid the same road. The first half of Matthew 18 talks of this in a context that we call "Church Discipline" . I think it could easily be talked of as "how to deal with problems between Christians".
Our lack of forgiveness shows a heart of sinful pride. Our lack of repentance shows a heart of sinful pride. We are called to break our pride and be humble before our God and to live that out with one another. So REPENT quickly and Forgive fast. This will be honoring to God and help to build healthy community in our Churches and homes.
MAN UP!
Preacherman
