Matthew 18:21 21
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
Matthew 18:22 22
“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
While modern conceptions of forgiveness focus mainly on its emotional dimensions, In Jesus’ first-century context, forgiveness had more concrete implications.
Most of all, forgiveness was action rather than feeling, and so our contemporary ideas about forgiveness as an emotional state must come from sources other than the biblical text. Separating what Jesus taught about forgives from what we have assumed and inferred puts a fair point on how Christians can define and practice forgiveness today.
Alexander Pope once noted, “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
There is nothing more Christlike than forgiveness. We can forgive others without limit because God has done the same for us.
REAL FORGIVENESS HAS NO LIMITS.
We do not get to decide on who we want to forgive because as everyone is equally sinful, everyone deserves your grace and forgiveness as Christ forgives you.
WE FORGIVE OTHERS BECAUSE GOD HAS FORGIVEN US.
We tend to think our sin smells better than other people’s sins. Our sinful nature wants to hold past sins against everyone who has hurt us but remember God does not keep counting past sins against you.
4 Stages of forgiveness
1.We hurt.
Compassion does not mean acting as even though you were not hurt. Genuine forgiveness begins by acknowledging the hurt.
2.We hate.
It is aggressive hate that wishes them ill. Whether it is passive or aggressive, hate separates us from people we should belong to.
3.We heal ourselves.
Opportunity in healing a hurt takes place inside your own heart. Once you forgive somebody, you perform spiritual surgery on your own soul. You decide to set free of your resentment and hate and rewrite the history between you and the person who offended you.
4.We come together.
The purpose of reconciliation is to invite the person who hurt and wronged you back into your life. They do not need to repent for you to forgive. Forgive is not how you feel, it is what you do. Being polite is not condoning someone’s behavior.
Let us show mercy to others repeatedly, just as Christ offers us. Genuine forgiveness is only possible if Jesus lives in our hearts and rules over our life.
The Rock, Your Place to Belong
At the Rock, you can belong before you believe. Use the links to the right to begin your relationship with Rock Church. If you are local to Fargo, click the “free movie ticket” button to the right and check out one of our services, every Sunday at 10 AM, at West Acres Cinema. If you are not local to our area, that’s okay. There are all kinds of ways that you can participate in the happenings at Rock Church. We have many people that only interact with our church online. Use the “become a friend” button to be included in everything we are doing.
