70×7 – The Formula of Forgiveness

[177 words] The Lord Jesus Christ commands us to forgive people. And he punctuates it with this statement: “so that your Father in heaven may forgive you.” If you forgive, God forgives you. If you don’t forgive, God will not forgive you (Matthew 6:14-15). One of the more challenging things about forgiveness is that it’s not a once in a while kind of thing. We are to continuously forgive each other. To emphasize this point, Matthew records a conversation between Jesus and the Apostle Peter. “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 times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22). By the way, Jesus does more than just command us to forgive. He gave us the ultimate example. When he was dying for crimes he did…