Forgive!

June 5, 2023 Monday Message:

Matthew 18:21-22 NLT: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’

‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven!’”

As we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask God to, “Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Jesus taught us those words. Jesus and his Father are big on forgiveness! They have pardoned the egregious sins of those who repent, return and claim Jesus as their Savior. And we are told to do what Jesus did.

If you do the math, Jesus is advocating forgiveness 490 times, but let’s look into that. It’s too large a number to keep track of in our heads, and if we wrote it all down, we might start to think that we’re Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful because we’re so forgiving, and that opens up another set of problems. Think about it – when the ‘humble’ is not present, we could sin while offering forgiveness to others!

“Let go and let God!” When someone asks for forgiveness, we are to forgive and close the door on the matter. Our responsibility in this exchange has ended.

If we simply forgive our brothers and sisters, the rest is up to God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship