In relationships, there's always the tendency for people to hurt us or for us to hurt people, very often in small ongoing ways. In most cases, the people who hurt us or the people who we hurt the most are the people closest to us. But the Bible teaches us to forgive as many as would hurt us.
The Bible provides profound insights into the nature of forgiveness, emphasising its importance in our relationship with God and with one another.
Jesus also taught us about forgiveness in Matthew 18:21-22;
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
He explains that we were to forgive as often as we were hurt, forgiving and letting go was to be done without limits. Sometimes hurts might seem too deep or too great that we find it impossible to forgive, that is the time we need to invite the Lord to help us work through the pain, to be able to offer forgiveness, freely and deeply.
Also In the Lord’s Prayer, we are taught to ask God to “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” in (Matthew 6:12).
So the nature of forgiveness is such that we are forgiven as we forgive.
We go to the Lord because He understands what hurt and forgiveness is all about. He had never committed any sin yet He suffered one of the most excruciatingly painful death. And on the Cross, at the height of His agony, He still forgave His executioners.
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
He is the only one with the power to help us thread the path of forgiving and forgiveness, and who will help us do it 70 x 7 times, which means all the time, without limit.
Thank you for reading me.