Matthew 18:21-22 (MSG)
At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
We don’t like to forgive people. For some reason, we think forgiving people means that we are accepting their behavior toward us. We think it is denying our pain or our feelings. We think it lets them off the hook…that they don’t have to apologize or make things right. But that isn’t what forgiveness does at all. Forgiveness simply removes the chains that bind us to that person’s actions. When someone hurts us, our offended feelings and our pain bind us to that action. We are trapped by it. We can’t stop thinking about it or dwelling on it. That person and their actions now take up an inordinate amount of space in our thinking and in our lives. That’s not what we want. We don’t want our lives consumed by our feelings of pain, nor do we want to be bound to a person who has harmed us in some way.
The answer is to forgive. Forgiveness breaks the chain. It puts the person and their actions back in their place, removing their ability to control how we think, how we feel, how we respond to the world around us, etc. When we forgive, we set ourselves free. Hurting people hurt people. Unforgiveness doesn’t make them see the error of their ways. It only compounds the hurt. Forgiveness hands the hurt over to the only one who can do anything about it: God. It frees us. When we forgive others, they see God in us, and that might very well open the door for a work in their hearts that changes them from a hurting person who hurts others to a healed person who brings healing to others.
This is why Jesus told Peter to forgive those who offend you seventy times seven. Not because you’re supposed to keep track of the number of times they do you wrong. Not because there is a limit to forgiveness. Rather to illustrate to him exactly what Jesus is offering. He’s offering abundant freedom. He’s offering unlimited healing. He’s offering us forgiveness for ourselves in an unlimited supply. As His followers, we should be prepared to do the same to those around us. So forgive those who offend you. Don’t keep track. Offer yourself abundant freedom. Offer yourself and others abundant healing. Offer forgiveness.
Father, I thank you that you forgive me for all the times I have offended you and all the times that my sin and my actions have broken your heart. You offer me healing for my hurts and freedom for my soul. I want to be like you in all things, God. Help me to offer the same forgiveness and healing to others. Help me to bring the pain to you, allow you to heal it, and prevent it from bursting forth to hurt others. I want a life of abundance, so I choose to forgive just as you do. I know you will make all things right in the end, so I break the chains that keep me under the control of the people who hurt me. I don’t want to be a slave to pain anymore. Thank you, Father, that with your Spirit living inside of me, I have the power to do this by forgiving. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Beautiful Mess 