Matthew 18:21-35
Verse 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Though Peter thought 7 times forgiving someone should be enough, Christ had quite a different idea of how often forgiveness should be extended. Truth be told, most of us would think Peter was being very generous with his suggestion of 7, we would prefer no more than 2 times, if we have to forgive more than once. Yet, aren’t we glad that God is willing to forgive us more than once?
Jesus was not giving Peter a specific number of times we are to forgive others, His point was that we shouldn’t be keeping track of how many times the person has hurt us. This isn’t to say we should stay in a dangerous situation where we are putting ourselves and possibly others in harm’s way, but that when we are hurt, we must forgive.
Paul understood Jesus’ use of numbers not being a set amount of times for offering forgiveness. In his well-known chapter on love Paul says that love “keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5). We may think that doesn’t really matter since often these people hurting us are not people we love, but is that the right thinking? Paul also knew what Jesus said about loving our enemies.
Knowing that we are to forgive many times over may be hard to accept but it is important because this is one way we show the world how forgiving God is. The world doesn’t understand forgiveness as it goes against our natural thinking. The world is more accepting of the Buddhism and Hinduism teaching of karma, where what a person does will come back to them. For this reason some don’t believe we should have to forgive at all, but as Christians, we aren’t to be like that.
As we have said before, forgiveness is a choice, something we have to choose to do if we want to obey Christ. But doing it because He said to do it isn’t enough, we should be forgiving because He forgave us. If we understand His forgiveness, we should want to live it out. We should be known for our forgiveness because He is known for His.
Making It Personal
How many times have you felt you should forgive someone? How many times have you wanted the same person to forgive you? Who needs to be forgiven another time today?
Making It Personal Kids
How many times are you willing to forgive someone? How many times do you want people to forgive you? Who do you need to forgive again?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for forgiving us more than once. Help us become more forgiving and seeing the joy in forgiveness. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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