Matthew 18:21-22

“Then Peter came and said to Him, ‘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.’ ”

I have been trying to think of the most unforgiveable act someone could commit against you. The murder of a loved one? A sexual assault? The theft of one’s life savings? Being left paralyzed by a drunk driver? Any of these events would rank high on the list of things that would be hard to forgive.

Have you ever been a victim? No, I do not necessarily mean that a crime has been committed against you (although that may be the case), but that words or actions have caused you pain or discomfort. Are you able to sincerely forgive that person?  

How do you go about forgiving a person that seems to be unforgiveable? I immediately think that the first step is to ask God for the wisdom and strength to know how to forgive. Most often we want to wait until the offender asks us to forgive them. That should not be the case. We need to forgive our offenders even if they never express regret and ask to be forgiven.

One of the critical steps in forgiveness is to search our hearts to determine if there was something we did or said that contributed to the offense. If there is, we need to deal with that issue. Let’s presume that we determine that we are responsible for 2% of the incident and the other party 98%. It is essential that we have a clear conscience for our 2%, so we need to ask Mr. 98% to please forgive us. Ouch! I will talk more about this tomorrow.

Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!

- – - Pastor Cecil