Time to Forgive
As I was flipping through channels yesterday, I stopped at a preacher talking about forgiveness. He noted that you can forgive, yet not forget, and it is still forgiveness. Peter came to Jesus and asked, "'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times,'" (Matthew 18:21-23 NIV).
I love how Peter probably thought he was being quite generous by forgiving others seven times and Jesus put him in his place by saying, "not seven times, but seventy-seven times." In other words, Peter, you aren't even close to forgiving enough times, how many times have I (Jesus) forgiven you and your brothers and sisters? Jesus took all our sins to the cross on His very own blood stained back. He took the sins of generations past, present, and future to the cross and every time, not sometimes, but every single time we genuinely bring our sins to Him and "...confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 NIV).
But, here is where the proverbial rubber meets the road, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15). Ahhh, so if you can't forgive someone because what they did to you was too awful, unjust, unfair, etc. then you don't have to forgive them, right? Mark 11:25 puts it this way, "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." Did you see the three crucial words here? He said, to forgive "anything against anyone."
That's tough right? Imagine how tough it was on Jesus as He hung on the cross with the "sins of the whole world" on His shoulders (1 John 2:2). I watch the news and sometimes can't believe what people are doing to each other, but Jesus knows because He wore those sins, so that even the worst of the worst, could have forgiveness of their sins and have their souls saved for eternity. His yoke was not just heavy, but excruciatingly painful, but Jesus Christ went to the cross for me and for you, so we could be free from sin. Accept His gift of freedom by forgiving yourself and others, release those bound up feelings to the Only One that can stand up under the weight.
He went to the cross for you because He loves you, but He also loves those whom you find fault with, so give Him your hurts, mistakes, loss, and anger. You may have to do it "seventy-seven times," but do it anyway, or the chains of bitterness will bind you, not those who have hurt you. Your response of forgiveness is to heal you and make you right with God, it doesn't excuse the other person's faults and you may never forget the injury, but you will be doing what God has called you to do, "forgive men their trespasses, [and] your Heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14-15).
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
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