It is in Forgiving That We Find Love

Prayer ~ Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-13 (Underlined for emphasis.)

Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven! Matthew 18:21-22

 

Meditate. Can you count to 490?

 

It seems that the rabbis at Jesus’ time were telling people that they needed to forgive others three times—but Peter was generously asking if seven times would be good enough. Jesus’ answer puts a lot of weight on forgiveness. Four hundred and ninety times. (Seventy times seven.) That is so much forgiveness that one would lose track—so I think that is Jesus’ point. To forgive without counting. Counting only adds to the weight of the whole issue—making bitterness get its roots in deeper. Bitterness is what eats at the person feeling it—not at the person to whom it is against. Similar to anger.

 

There was a time in my life—years ago—when I was feeling a lot of anger, so I looked up all the verses in the Bible on anger. I only got MORE ANGRY! When I started focusing on forgiving the person with whom I was angry and looking for joy (as in to enjoy my life instead of anger!) life became so much better. I was amazed! Truly, God doesn’t want us to focus on anger, bitterness, or rage, but on forgiveness and love. Remember, God is love—and everyone who loves is born of God (1 John 4:7-8). That builds our relationship with Him.

 

Don't let the sun go down on your anger.
See Ephesians 4:26
Deal with it. 

Another incident in my life that dealt with anger and forgiveness was when I was just a teenager and someone decided to nickname me “IG” for ignorant, dumb, or stupid. It was not appropriate—and it just made me mad. I think that was that person’s goal—just to get under my skin and rile up my anger. Needless to say, I still hear that “you’re just IG” voice in my head sometimes. That issue came up in my Bible Study group recently and one gentleman said I needed to deal with that issue. Sure enough—he was right—and I have forgiven that person for the IG status and given that problem to the Lord. It is wonderful to know that we are so valued by the Lord. He sees us as we are—smart, beautiful, and of great value. We are created in His image—so how could we be anything worthless, ugly, or ignorant? It is in forgiving that we find love.

Verse of Salvation ~ Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name. Psalm 79:9

 

© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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