Forgive Seventy Seven Times

“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

Ann Voskamp is one of my favorite writers and this is what she has to say about forgiving:

“This is hard but healing:

 

Forgive to give freedom.

Forgive to give yourself the key out, forgive to give what you’ve been given.

Forgive to give what you will need to get a thousand times so you can get to go on. 

 

Love gives. So live given.

Love is a verb and that verb is give.

You’ve been given so much — so how can you not live given?

 

Give thanks and live given — this is how you get joy.”

Forgiving is not the easiest thing. I know because sometimes I grapple with commenting mean words to somebody who did something not even against me but what I felt was against all Filipinos. How much more if he wronged me or a loved one personally? But forgiveness is a decision we have to make each and every day until we get it right. Our Father is all about forgiveness. When we say the Lord’s Prayer we ask that He forgive us as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Sometimes this is impossible and I think of all the survivors of Auschwitz like Corrie Ten Boom, or women who have been raped or abused like Christine Caine, or mothers and fathers whose sons or daughters have been taken from them in the mass shootings in schools in the US. We cannot do it on our own. We need to pull from God’s sea of mercy and allow Him to work in our hearts and minds one day at a time. Sometimes a minute at a time.