FORGIVE HIM…FORGIVE HIM…

In the reading for today the Lord Jesus teaches several very important lessons about forgiving one another. He had just taught the disciples a lesson in not offending others; here, He teaches them to forgive a brother, when an apology has been made. For a believer, forgiveness of others is a proof that the for- giver has been forgiven himself, Eph. 4. 32. The order is this: a Christian has been offended by the words or deeds of another believer; with a forgiving spirit, he is told to rebuke the offender; if the offender repents, he is to be forgiven. Even if this is repeated seven times in a day, forgiveness must be the ultimate result every time.

In a parallel passage Peter asked the Lord, ‘how often shall... I forgive ...?’ Matt. 18. 21 JND. Jesus taught Peter to forgive his brother ‘seventy times seven’ times. Of course, our example is the Saviour Himself. From the cross He asked His Father to forgive His tormenters. The ‘seventy times seven’ answer that the Lord gave Peter was not a finite number. This is how much forgiveness of others He expects from us. This should come as no surprise, when we pause to consider the innumerable number of sins from which He has forgiven us!

Practically, let us go one step further. It has been said, ‘I can forgive, but I’ll never forget!’ Is this attitude biblical for the child of God? We have all had hurts that we may have truly forgiven but, every time we see the individual involved, the memory returns. What can we do in situations like these? For all who trust His Son, the Father has stated that ‘their sins and iniquities will I remember no more’, Heb. 10. 17. God does not forget our sins; forgetfulness is a human frailty. Instead, He chooses not to remember them ever again. Can we do this? Paul says we can. He did! For him to make progress towards the prize of the Christian race, he chose to forget ‘those things which are behind’, Phil. 3. 13. Let us forgive others, as often as we need to. We have been forgiven; let us put the memory of these incidents far away into our past, and not remember them. Ultimately, this honours our Forgiver whereas an unforgiving spirit leads to hardness, resentment, and bitterness.