Matthew 18.21–22
21 Then Peter came up and said to him,
“Lord, how often will my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him,
“I do not say to you seven times,
but seventy-seven times.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The biggest roadblock that prevents me from being able to forgive those who have hurt me is when I have a superior attitude or condescending view of the person who wronged me. If I don’t respect them or if I look down with contempt upon them, being able to truly forgive them is impossible. When that is my roadblock, I have to learn to face reality: they are not the problem…I am.
Dealing with others’ sin
starts with our repentance.
-Jack Miller
Not being able to forgive is not because of them; it’s because I am too self-righteous to give that to them because I just don’t believe they’ve earned it. What I want is for them to see the error of their ways and how much they’ve hurt me; I want them to confess and repent and somehow make it up to me. I want to be vindicated. My offering of forgiveness then is only extended if I get something out of it, and when that is the case, it is no longer about wanting to see them walk in wholeness and being freed from sin, but it is about me getting what I want. I withhold from them until I get what I want out of it.
If I can’t forgive someone,
it’s not because
their sin is so big,
but it’s because
my understanding
of the Gospel is so small.
What a backwards view this is! I sin, yet God forgives freely; yet someone sins against me, and I hold it over their head until I get what I want! This attitude reveals to me that the Gospel and the love of Christ toward me has been suppressed in my heart; I’m consciously choosing to ignore the beautiful truths of the Gospel and instead am withholding something that has already been freely given to me.
Paul reminds me that I am to owe no one anything except love (Romans 13.8). I don’t owe anyone any punishment or payback; I am only to owe them love. The Gospel gives me the freedom to lavish undeserved grace and mercy and forgiveness on those who have hurt me, because that is exactly what Christ has done for me.
Read Again Out Loud and Make it into a Prayer:
Matthew 18.21–22
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
His Mercy is More
Keith and Kristyn Getty
Personalize and Read or Pray Aloud:
What love could remember
no wrongs we have done?
Omniscient, all knowing,
He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
What patience would wait
as we constantly roam?
What Father, so tender,
is calling us home?
He welcomes the weakest,
the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more!
Stronger than darkness, new every morn’
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment,
His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt
we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Pray Aloud:
Lord Jesus, Your work is to declare
the Name of the Father
to poor sinners, so You may be in them.
Now, Lord, I am a poor sinner.
Declare the Name of the Father to me,
Declare the Name of the Father to me.
I have a poverty-stricken heart,
without even room enough
for You in my soul.
Oh, that it were enlarged for You!
So declare this Name of Your Father to me,
that the love by which
Your Father has loved You
may be in me, and I in You also.
Amen.
-William Bridge, 1600-1670
Father, help ________ to keep in step
with Your Spirit today.
Help ______ to follow You
and lift up Your Name,
that ______ might carry
Your aroma through the day.
Give _______ daily bread,
so that Your promises
would keep ________ heart,
which is prone to wander,
anchored closely to You.
Lead ________ away from temptation,
but instead be brought back
to Your truth and presence.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Click Here to Have These Devotionals
Sent to Your Phone Daily
(U.S. Residents Only)
