Forgiveness

How forgiving can one be?

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” - Matthew 18:21-35

Peter came to Jesus and asked him how many times he should forgive someone.

Did some one of the other disciples sin against him?  Had he forgiven that person before and wanted to know if he should give the person another chance?

The first time is not as hard as the second.  When someone seeks forgiveness and appears sincere and remorseful, you might want to give him a chance to redeem himself.

But if he does it again?

It hurts when someone destroys the trust between you and him, and that is how we feel when someone hurts us.

So, why would we subject ourselves to that pain again and again?

Wouldn't you think that each occurrence magnifies the pain and makes us feel like fools as well?

Jesus wants us to accept that forgiveness makes us stronger, not weaker.  Instead of thinking about the one who sins against us, we should think of how God forgives us.

Each time we are hurt by someone who comes back to us and asks us to forgive, we should remind ourselves of a time we did the same with God.

And if we do that, we might have a heart to show mercy.

For it is from the heart that forgiveness comes.

More to come...