The Challenge - Week Eight
Learning to Forgive

Here’s a familiar passage of Scripture that we’ll be focusing on this week:

    Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

    Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

    "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

    "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

    "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

    "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

    "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

    "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

    "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Matthew 18:21-35

Good old Peter!!  He though he had Jesus when he said is seven times enough! The Rabbi’s in the first century taught that three times a day was all the forgiveness you had to show! So Peter, knowing Jesus’ high standards doubled it and added one for good measure!

I can almost hear him thinking, “This time Jesus will really be impressed with how spiritual I am!”

Wrong again Peter!

Jesus said 70 times 7 or 490 times, which is of course His way to show that true forgiveness is unlimited!

Then Jesus tells a parable to illustrate this forgiveness and to point out some critical things we need to know and live out if we are to forgive the way Christ has forgiven us!

1)     You must accept Christ’s forgiveness of you before you can forgive others. Notice that the King forgives the first servants debt – all of it!!  But somehow this is just too wonderful, to incredible for him to believe. So when he runs into the second man he chokes the guy to get a lousy $20!

2)     If you don’t forgive God won’t forgive you!   What follows is tragic but true. The man’s unforgiving spirit brings him back before the King, where he is condemned to torture because of his unforgiveness!

This is true for us too! Refusal to forgive will torture us – it will torture us because the unresolved pain will linger, and finally it will torture us because our relationship with God will be damaged and destroyed.

Obviously this isn’t what anyone wants!  Yet so many Christians fall into this because they say, “I just can’t forgive him/her!”

Yes you can!  Christ commanded it so it is possible however difficult it might be. Here’s some practical steps that might help you forgive as Christ has forgiven us.

1)     Take time to remember what God has forgiven you of – make a list of the things God’s has forgiven you of – and thank Him for all of it!

2)     Then list the people you are having trouble forgiving.

3)     Then PRAY, and settle the matter before the Lord. Ask for His grace so that you can forgive!

4)     Verbalize and act on that forgiveness. Go the people if you can and tell them you forgive them, write them, e-mail them, call them, fax them – whatever!  Do this unless it would only make things worse, in that case simply forgive within yourself and enjoy the blessings of letting go of the pain and embracing the grace of God!

Here’s what Saint Augustine said about the importance of forgiving:

“Now, a man who does not forgive from the heart one who asks forgiveness and is repentant of his sins can in no way suppose that his own sins are forgiven by the Lord, since the Truth cannot lie…He who is not awakened by such great thundering is not asleep, but dead. And yet such a word has power to awaken even the dead.”

       Enchridon – on Faith, Hope and Love