MATTHEW 18:21-22 – Then 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?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

THEME OF THE DAY. FORGIVING LIKE CHRIST. I think it is a huge problem in many relationships. Whether with families, among friends, even in our churches, this “huge problem” may not be talked about a lot, but it exists a lot. And it causes devastating consequences in all relationships. This “huge problem” is a lack of Biblical forgiveness practiced among God’s people.

Let us explore this important topic and do so by stating something we must get clear in our thinking and living. We are going to be sinned against and we are going to sin against people. Hopefully, not on purpose, but sin is still a reality in believers. We still fight pride and selfishness, the “twin sisters” that lead to sinning against people, and being sinned against by people to include close family members and brothers and sisters in the Lord. And this sinning requires the exercise of Biblical forgiveness. If this is not practiced, gone is unity in a family or church; gone is the wonderful fellowship of transparency, and welcome is the ugliness of hypocrisy and the quenching of God’s Spirit in our lives and churches (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

Now about forgiveness, two things. First, what it is not . . . forgiveness is not a feeling. I have been in counseling sessions when forgiveness, which always opens the door to relational healing, was withheld because the hurt and sinned against party said, “I don’t feel like forgiving. (Name) has hurt me too bad. I cannot forgive.” This reveals a lack of understanding of forgiveness. God declares we are forgiven in Christ. He states it. He chooses to forgive. Biblical forgiveness is an act of the will despite feelings. And with this act is also the commitment to not hold the offense against a person. Is this hard? Yes, but forgiveness, when granted, says, “I will never bring this up again.” That is what God does and expects of us in forgiving one another. We cannot say, “I forgive” and then bring the forgiven offense back up in the heat of an emotional moment. To do so reveals we didn’t forgive nor understand God’s forgiveness.

The second truth about forgiveness is what we find in the Lord Jesus from today’s scripture. There is no quota when it comes to forgiving people. Yes, that too is hard, and please, do not take Jesus’ number literally. No maxing out at seventy-seven times. We forgive like God forgives us – every time and all the time. And when we find this extremely challenging with people who sin against us repeatedly, stop and remember God’s forgiveness of us repeatedly. Then go and do likewise. He will give us the grace to forgive over and over as we marvel over His grace that forgives us over and over.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I refuse to forgive like You – immediately and permanently.”

QUOTE: “Forgiveness is not a feeling but an act of the will that refuses to bring up what has been forgiven.”