How Often Must We Forgive?

Forgiveness: To pardon, to give up resentment. to grant as a favor, a gift.

Hello friends! I know that this is a recent blog posting, but I'm posting it again because all signs are pointing me in that direction. This past Sunday, the Pastor at my hometown church preached about forgiveness. Later, I went to visit a family member and she was telling us about her sister-in-law who's Pastor was also preaching about forgiveness. Later still, we turned on the radio and the Pastor on the radio was talking about what? You guessed it - FORGIVENESS! This is no coincidence - God is wanting His people to forgive and love one another as He has, and still loves us. So here we go:

No matter what we perceive has hurt us or has caused us shame and grief, we must always remember to forgive. Forgiveness is our path to healing, not to mention, it's what God expects us to do.  If we offend someone; we must quickly repent. If someone offends us; we must quickly forgive. Ephesians 4:32 reminds us, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 

Forgiveness is big with God, because it's an expression of His love. When we choose not to forgive, we are putting limits on ourselves... as well as on the Lord. We are holding back on His love, His joy, and His peace that we should be showing one to another - instead we carry around all sorts of unprofitable weight. one might say, you don't know what they did to me and you are right, but I know what Jesus did for you -- He died.

Matthew 18:21-22 says, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." (In case you were wondering - that’s every 2 ½ minutes!!)

Forgiveness is a choice - if we are on the receiving end of someone’s unkind words or if there were unkind deeds that were done to us in the past, we have a choice. We can choose to forgive and move past barriers that will separate us from others (and from the Lord) or we can tie God hands with our unwillingness to forgive. How easy is it for us to forget that we have made mistakes in our life?? Keep that in mind next time you're holding a grudge. We must forgive others so that we too can be forgiven.

We have no excuse for holding grudges; for not forgiving others... while Jesus was hanging on the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Surely we can do the same, right? Especially since we're not hanging on a cross! Forgiveness is a gift - one that we can all use and one that we all need.

With all that said; let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!