Does Your Forgiveness Have a Limit?

When Jesus tells Peter that he must forgive others 70 x 7, He didn’t mean that we should keep track of each time we forgive a person and when they’ve reached their limit of 490 forgivenesses, we get to be done with them. What Jesus meant was, just as we ask Him to forgive us every day, we are also to go on forgiving others. In fact, that is the condition that exists in order for us to be forgiven! In the Lord’s prayer, we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” 

If you read that phrase too quickly, it might sound like you’re giving yourself a pat on the back for how well you forgive others. What you’re actually praying is this — whether I do a good job forgiving others or a poor job, Lord, please forgive me in the same way.

That’s a sobering thought!

Every time I read that phrase, rather than making me feel scared about my own track record of forgiving others, it motivates me to be ever more aware of the hurts I need to forgive, and the bonds I need to release. Even if the other person doesn’t realize they’ve caused hurt, the choice to forgive them is not any less important.