Read
Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Meditate
Today’s message
No one goes through life without needing to forgive. I don't come from a perfect family, and neither do you. Sooner or later, we stumble over each other. That's why I opened the Bible to Matthew 18: Peter asks about the limit, and Jesus crushes the count: seventy times seven. Forgiving is not a kindness of temperament; it is obedience from someone who has already been reached by grace. God erases, casts away, does not charge again. And if He has forgiven me everything, how can I hold the account of another in my hand?
Three questions I need to face
- Why forgive: because God in Christ has completely forgiven me and calls me to imitate that standard.
- How much to forgive: unlimited — seventy times seven, without keeping a spreadsheet in my heart.
- How to forgive: with vigilance, correct confrontation, repentance, and restoration in gentleness.
The parable of the unforgiving servant woke me up to reality: my debt with God is unpayable; my neighbor's debt with me is small. When I do not forgive, I get sick. Resentment is a cup of poison that I drink hoping the other dies. I myself went through the valley: on the day I received the news of my brother's murder, the word that came out of my mouth was: I forgive the murderer. Not by my own strength. Forgiveness is the work of God's grace in us.
Whoever does not forgive cannot be forgiven.
How to forgive, in the ground of life
- Watch your heart and treat the wound early: if your brother sins, confront with truth and tact.
- Demand and offer a path of repentance: if he repents, forgive — once and again.
- Do not sweep it under the rug, nor expose it in public: resolve face to face.
- Ask for and grant forgiveness without subterfuge: without excuses, without comparing faults, without half-measures.
Maybe you say: but the pain is great. I know. Grace is greater. Corrie ten Boom shook hands with her tormentor, turning memory into freedom. God casts our sins into the depths of the sea and forbids fishing there. Do the same with the debts you hold. Take the initiative. Schedule a coffee. Sit at the table. Forgive as you have been forgiven. When grace governs, prayer flows again, the conscience finds rest, and fellowship flourishes.
Did you know
- In the parable, the debt of 10,000 talents represents an unpayable amount; 100 denarii is a small amount, the contrast is intentional.
- In Solomon's reign, 666 talents came in per year, which helps to dimension the hyperbole of 10,000 talents.
- Corrie ten Boom, who sheltered Jews during World War II, popularized the image of Micah 7: God casts sins into the sea and 'forbids fishing'.
Key phrases
- Whoever does not forgive cannot be forgiven.
- God no longer keeps a record of your sins.
- Not up to seven, Peter, but seventy times seven.
- Holding a grudge is drinking a cup of poison thinking the other will die.
Translated from the Portuguese original.
Seek
To seek today
Go deeper
Go deeper
HOW TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO HURT YOU? - HERNANDES DIAS LOPES
Watch