Have you ever forgiven someone 7 times in one day?
- Or how about 49 times in a week? Or 210 times in a month? Or 2,555 times in a year?
- Now you may be tempted to dismiss this as hyperbole or exaggeration, overstatement or embellishment. You may even be tempted to dismiss this as merely rhetoric.
- But let’s not forget that it was Jesus Christ who got the ball rolling on this idea of multiplying by seven when it comes to the subject of forgiveness. It is Jesus Christ who directs our thoughts in this way. His intent was then and is now to push our minds past the human boundaries of “our thoughts” and “our ways” when it comes forgiveness. How far does he want to push us? Until we begin to think like God and obey his will concerning forgiveness.
- The Apostle Paul gives very clear support for this teaching that we are in fact to forgive as God forgives.
- He writes to the Ephesians … Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32 ESV).
- And to the Colossians … Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive (Colossians 3:12–13 ESV).
- But when we discuss forgiveness, we do something pretty crazy. We reverse the process. We take God’s truth and make it fit our human standards; we bring it down to something we understand, and more importantly, what we are willing to accept.
- I say this because many not only refuse to forgive 7 or 49 or 210 or 2,555 times, but refuse to forgive even once. Too many times we will forgive only according to the rational processes of our mind and the determination of our will. What do I mean by that? I mean that we, just as Adam and Eve in their rebellion in the garden, believe that we have the right to determine good and evil. We may not realize or admit it, but that is exactly what is happening.
- We, along with probably every church across the land, have discussions as to how we can bring people into our fellowship. The Bible doesn’t have a section on programs and methods that will add members to our church. But the Bible says a lot about sin and forgiveness.
- What if we got that part right?