Forgiveness (Part three of a three-part series)

. . .If he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him. Luke 17:3b-4

“I’ll forgive you this once, but know that I will never forget what you have done to me.” Does that sound familiar? Honestly there are some folks that won’t forgive even once, but when one does, it is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Now you may not even be able to imagine someone who would “sin” against you more than once, much less seven times in one day. The truth is, once the tongue, set on fire from Hell (quoting a little James here), gets moving, seven might be a miniscule number. True, not many folks will rob you more than once, or hit you in the mouth twice in one day, or curse your existence on a daily basis, but sometimes. . .sometimes. . .our Savior knew of that which He spoke.

Will we ever learn that it is His forgiveness of us that is the criteria for our forgiveness of others? How many times have we come to Him with our prayer of contrition, our cry for mercy, and our confidence in His unlimited grace, and yet find ourselves turning away our brother, or worse yet, never providing the opportunity for that brother or sister to seek forgiveness in our heart?

The capacity to forgive is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. What freedom will come to my experience as I clearly understand that I am forgiven as I forgive others! What peace will fill my days when I discover that my power to forgive is, like my llove, unlimited! What joy will overcome my life when the confidence of a complete forgiveness on my part mirrors the forgiveness of God when He buries my sin in the depths of the sea, removes it as far as the East is from the West, and remembers it no more forever!

Once Jesus asked those who followed Him, which was harder – to heal, or forgive? For some of us, it is the latter.