PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 18:21-27
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22)
Whether 70×7, or 77 times, its a whole lot of times.
In other words, stop counting, just forgive!
Jesus is not suggesting a mathematical formula for how long to show mercy.
He is magnifying Peter’s attempt at being extra-gracious… ‘you’ve only just started!’
Love is a debt that we never finish paying (Romans 13:8).
God is loving like this, His patience with us is immense (1 Timothy 1:16).
It is ONLY because of His mercy that the kingdom of God is restored.
God does not give us time to repay it, because He knows we can’t.
Instead He has mercy (takes pity) on us, and releases us without penalty.
This sounds good to me, I know the hugeness of my debt.
It gets harder when applied to others, especially terrible people.
For some reason, Jesus uses this story to compare my debt with others.
I need to be forgiven, just like everyone else – including terrible people.
Knowing how much I’ve been forgiven helps me to know how much I need to forgive others.
PRAYER
Lord, I love Your forgiveness for me, but I resent it for more ‘terrible’ people. Help me to see that to You, my sins are terrible too, and yet You’ve forgiven me.
Guilty. I know I’ve kept track: I’ve forgiven someone but at times I’ve raised the issue in conversation with others, not to the person I’ve forgiven – still thinking what was I doing? Have I then really forgiven? Officially yes, but in my mind I still remember. It is one thing to forgive – but really to forget and not call it to mind anymore when someone did not meet their part of the agreement and you cancelled their debt. I must forgive and forget – knowing how Jesus forgave me. Yet I can’t forget what He did so that I might be free. I know that he forgives completely – and it seems that I am guilty over and over again – more than 70X7 – just considering how many days are in a year!