8 OCTOBER 2019
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:22 KJV
Peter was asking Jesus how many times we ought to forgive a particular person, should it be seven times? Many are the times when some people deliberately wrong us and we have even reached a point to say we have forgiven enough and we cannot forgive anymore. But the problem is, we imprison ourselves when we don’t forgive others.
Biologically, when we are keyed up, the body produces adrenaline which causes rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, anxiety, excessive sweating and palpitations. So keeping a grudge or failing to forgive exposes us to unnecessary stress and typical symptoms of adrenaline release. High levels of adrenaline might play a role in the development of high blood pressure in some people. So in a way, forgiveness is very beneficial to us more than it is to the one who wronged us because our health depends on it.
Forgiveness is the nature of God and is a demonstration of love. The Bible says This is how we have come to know love: the Messiah gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers. 1 Johnn 3:16 ISV. We have known true love in the forgiveness Christ gave freely, and we ought to show love in forgiving others as well. This verse says its a requirement to forgive others.
God, through Jesus Christ, forgave our sins before we even confessed them. even when we were dead because of our offenses, God made us alive together with the Messiah (by grace you have been saved), Ephesians 2:5 ISV. This is a demonstration of how God so loved the world (John 3:16). The Bible says, No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends.John 15:13 ISV. When we forgive others, we practice the great commandment. We do not have to wait for them to confess. Christ said, “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12 ISV.
Let’s develop a forgiving heart towards our brethren, spouses, etc, because God demands it from us. We should be willing to forgive them before they make a move towards repentance. Better still, let’s just learn to forgive them in advance before they even wrong us. A heart that is ready to forgive always is better for our spirit and physical health. Forgiveness is for our own good.
