Today I want to talk about forgiveness. It is a big deal in any and every relationship someone has, whether those are friendships, relationships, marriages, corporate relationships, family relationships or any other situation. There are lots of sayings and quotes surrounding this topic, but today I am only going to focus on one passage that can be found in Matthew 18:21-22.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered. "I tell you, not seven times but seventy times seven."
To be completely honest, I first heard of this story in the Bible through a Christian song by Chris August called 7x70. Which you can listen to here: 7x70 Chris August. My boyfriend and I were in the car driving somewhere and I was singing along to this song on the radio. He looked over at me and asked if I knew what this song was talking about with the "7x70". I said no and he explained the verse above to me saying that it doesn't matter how many times someone does you wrong, you should always forgive them. I looked at him questionably and he went on to say that forgiving someone doesn't mean that you forget about what happened, or that what they did is acceptable. It means that you aren't going to let it eat at you anymore. The other day someone else told me "Some people say I forgive easily and that I don't have a backbone for being so forgiving. I asked them why they thought I forgave so easily. They didn't know and I explained, I don't forgive people because it makes them feel better, I forgive them because it makes me feel better. If I didn't forgive them, I would wake up the next morning still angry. That would ruin my day, not theirs." That surprised me to hear, but it makes sense. I tend to hang onto grudges for a while if I feel like I have been wronged. During the time I'm holding a grudge, it makes me angry and frustrated. Those are negative things that happen to me and the simple fix is to forgive someone for what they have done to me. Again, that doesn't mean that what they did is ok, it just means I'm not going to let it affect me.
Sometimes I think that I have forgiven one person as many times as they should get and that I won't forgive them anymore. But who am I to do that? First, it would only hurt me in the long run. And second, what would life be like if Jesus turned to me and said "nope, you've had your quota of forgiveness, you're on your own now"? He would never do that. Jesus was and is perfect. We will never be as perfect as He is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be.
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