Then Peter came to Him and said, "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. Matt 18:21-22 (NKJV)
Most of you have heard the saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." You already know what this means: If you trust someone and they end up falling short of your expectations or purposely act adversarial towards you--shame on them for taking advantage of your trust; however, if you extent trust to them a second time and they once again fail to live up to your expectations--shame on you for trusting them. There is a good bit of common sense that can be derived from this saying, but it does not take the high standard of Christian grace and forgiveness into consideration.
Most of you have heard the saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." You already know what this means: If you trust someone and they end up falling short of your expectations or purposely act adversarial towards you--shame on them for taking advantage of your trust; however, if you extent trust to them a second time and they once again fail to live up to your expectations--shame on you for trusting them. There is a good bit of common sense that can be derived from this saying, but it does not take the high standard of Christian grace and forgiveness into consideration.
How do we mesh this common sense with the unbelievably high number that Jesus gave us when it comes to forgiveness? If I am to be honest about it all--Peter's number of seven seems to be very generous to my antagonist. (Let someone stab me in the back seven times? Yikes!!!) So, how do we go about forgiving people who sin against us over and over again? What do we do with those who decide to enter into an adversarial relationship with us, overriding our considerable effort to make it otherwise? This is one of the greatest challenges of the Christian walk.
The answer to this challenge is not simple nor particularly easy to put into practice. Here are three practical ideas:
Prayer: "Dear heavenly Father, You said in Your Word that I cannot hate the brother that I can see and love the God that I cannot see; and yet, I find it much easier to love You. Fill me with a greater capacity to forgive and to love. Fill my life with the same kind of grace that You extend towards me. I also pray that You would give me favor in the eyes of others that I might live in peace with others. Thank You for hearing me! Amen"
The answer to this challenge is not simple nor particularly easy to put into practice. Here are three practical ideas:
- Humble yourself. There is no possible way to accurately evaluate others if we do not see ourselves as we really are. When we understand the depth of our own duplicity and the grace necessary for God to forgive us, it brings about a greater level of humility in our lives. We have been forgiven much!!!
- Lower your expectations. Sometimes we set ourselves up to be disappointed by other people, because we have unrealistic expectations. Recognize the fact that everyone is flawed and falls short of the glory of God.
- Be prepared to forgive. In the words of Carrie Fisher: "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." It will not be helpful to your spiritual walk to hold the sins of others against them. Better to release them from your judgment--put them into the hands of God and move on.
Prayer: "Dear heavenly Father, You said in Your Word that I cannot hate the brother that I can see and love the God that I cannot see; and yet, I find it much easier to love You. Fill me with a greater capacity to forgive and to love. Fill my life with the same kind of grace that You extend towards me. I also pray that You would give me favor in the eyes of others that I might live in peace with others. Thank You for hearing me! Amen"
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