Forgiveness

Matthew 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

I see countless posters about forgiveness. Quotes about forgiveness. None are as good as what the Scriptures teach us about forgiveness.

I struggle with a few things where forgiveness is concerned. If you've apologized but someone doesn't believe you've forgiven them, it's on them, right? I don't need to contact them and make sure they know they are forgiven? I have one or two people like this in my life. They always say that forgiveness is for the one doing the forgiving.

As I thought about the concept of forgiveness and the verse Matthew 18:21-22 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" "Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." I always thought this meant you forgave everything, forever. Infinity, right? I didn't understand at the time forgiving the same person for the same offense almost everyday for going on 3 years now.

It's not 3 years of offenses, it was a single point in time. But some offenses hurt so deep that the challenge to forgive is taking a lot of time and work. And while God forgives and forgets, that is not a human concept, but God one, a super natural one.

When I remember to put these verses together; forgive infinity, because I want my heavenly Father to forgive me, I get it right.