Extending The Hand Of Forgiveness

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times” Matthew 18:21-22

How many of us get frustrated with having to forgive someone for the same thing twice? I know I am guilty of not wanting to extend grace and forgiveness for a repeated offence. Jesus wants us to understand something in this verse. A person with a heart of compassion is hard to come across. Peter thought he was being compassionate when he asked if he should forgive seven times. But in the eyes of Christ, forgiving someone seven times for the same offence does not necessarily qualify us as having developed the characteristic of compassion in our lives. God does not just want us to be compassionate when we want to. He wants us to be characterized by a life filled and overflowing with compassion and forgiveness, and if that takes seventy-seven times to develop that characteristic in our hearts, than that is the path we need to take. Christ is not asking us to keep track of the number of times we bestow forgiveness on someone for repeated offences, that is not the point here. He is trying to nurture and develop in us a life characterized by compassion. He wants others to be able to see in us a compassionate heart. This is not so people can use us and abuse us. It is so others can see what Christ looks like by the way we live. It is so others can see Christ face to face. It is so others can identify that the compassion they see in us is not coming from us, but rather flowing through us and that the source of our compassion comes from Christ himself!

For many of us forgiveness doesn’t come easy. It requires us to swallow our pride, humble ourselves and extend the hand of Christ in the very moments we want to be extending the hand of revenge. We are not capable of repeatedly forgiving someone for the same offence and not carry around a chip on our shoulders about it without Christ operating in our lives. It is necessary that we allow Christ to work in our hearts so that forgiveness can flow freely in our lives. Otherwise, we will give up long before Christ has even had the opportunity to change our hearts.

To read more on compassion visit: The Lord's Compassion, Echoing The Heartbeat of God , Jesus Chose The Least Of Theses, Getting Dressed (Part 1)

Lord, I thank you that you desire to develop in us hearts that are filled with compassion and full of forgiveness toward others. I thank you that you are going to be right beside us in those times when we want to extend the hand of revenge rather than the hand of forgiveness and you are going to work in our hearts so that we can choose to forgive in those moments. I thank you that you want our lives to be characterized by a forgiving heart so that others can see you in us. We know that we are incapable of accomplishing this on our own and that it is only by you working in us that continual forgiveness can flow. Work on our hearts this week Lord, that we can extend the hand of forgiveness seventy seven times if needed! And let our lives be characterized by a continual flow of compassion extending from our hearts in each and every moment when forgiveness is needed.