19 January

LET GO OF THE PAINS (2)

“Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? [As many as] up to seven times? Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!”

(Matthew 18:21, 22 AMP)

In the synagogues, the rabbis taught the people to forgive those who hurt them three times. That seemed quite a lot, especially if the same person did the same thing again and again. Peter was being very gracious, in his understanding of the love of Christ, to ask if seven times, the perfect number, was enough times to forgive that person who seems to be a thorn in our flesh. What a shock it must have been when Jesus said seventy times seven – that is, four hundred and ninety times!

That just means we should not keep track of our hurts and how many times we forgive. This seems quite difficult, but do we keep track of how many times we hurt others, or how many times we hurt our Lord Jesus? How painfully did Jesus agonise in the garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Luke 22:42). Our Father – His Father – forsook Him because our sins were heaped on Him. Yet, as He was being crucified, He cried out: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) And at last, free from pain, free from the burden, He said: “It is finished!”

Even death could not hold Him captive; He rose from the dead! He is alive, as we shall be! Nothing on this earth is worth losing our eternal life for.

ACTION: Pray for God’s mercy on those who have hurt you. 

PRAYER:    Father God, grant me grace to forgive and let go.