Words of Wisdom: Feb. 2025
In Matthew 18:21, the Apostle Peter asks Jesus an important question - “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Maybe Peter thought that he had a good number there, but Jesus said “until seventy times seven.” That number adds up to 490, but was Jesus saying that Peter, and we, should keep track of the number of times we forgive someone for the wrong they have done to us?
No, Jesus was teaching that we should always be ready to forgive others, and he went on to tell a parable, which is a story with a good and deeper meaning, about forgiveness. He told of a king who had a servant who owed him a lot of money, but the king forgave him his debt. Then that servant met another servant who only owed him a little bit of money, but the first servant didn’t forgive the servant who owed him. After the king found out what the first servant had done, he punished that servant. The first servant was forgiven a lot, but he didn’t forgive someone else even a little bit.
We as human beings have sinned against God, and when we ask God for forgiveness, He forgives us because Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sin. And so, just as God has forgiven us, we need to forgive others as well. Even in the Lord’s prayer we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And then Jesus said in Matthew 6:15, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So we see how important it is to forgive others when they sin against us.
Yes, sometimes it can be hard to forgive someone when they have done something really bad and wrong to us, and we need to ask God to help us forgive them because it can be hard to do that in our own strength. But if God can forgive us for our sin against Him, then He can also help us to forgive others. It costs us something when we forgive someone, but we need to remember that it cost God His only begotten Son to forgive us, but he freely forgives us when we are sorry for our sin and ask Him for forgiveness.
May God help us to live in an attitude of forgiveness.
Mr. Dan Doerksen