Word of the Day
FORGIVE
Matthew 18:21-22 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. NKJV
I like math. Sounds crazy, I know! We are learning multiplication at school right now. You know, 2 x 3 = 6. Or two groups of three equals six.
At church last week we were learning how to FORGIVE. They read this Bible verse from Matthew 18:21-22.
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."
To FORGIVE is when you want to make someone pay for the bad thing they did against you, but you don’t. You choose to let it go. Peter must have figured that there was a limit to how many times you should FORGIVE someone when they sin against you. He thought seven times would be enough. After seven times surely you can get them back for what they did to you.
Jesus pulled out the multiplication tables when he answered Peter though! He said FORGIVE 70 times seven! If you do the math that would be 490 times. That is a lot!
Jesus then went on to tell a story of a man who owed his boss a lot of money. The boss FORGAVE the man what he owed. That means he didn’t have to pay it back, ever!
Then that man met someone that owed him money. He did not FORGIVE the man like he had been FORGIVEN. He threw the man in jail!
Jesus sums (math pun intended) the story up by saying if we want to be FORGIVEN of our sin by God, we need to FORGIVE others when they sin against us. So, I guess there really is no limit to the number of times we need to FORGIVE! In math terms, that would be infinity!