Always Forgives Those Who Wrong Him

Always Forgives Those Who Wrong Him

A HERO’S TALE

Peter desperately wanted to be a hero for God.

When Jesus started his public ministry, traveling throughout Palestine to preach the Good News and perform miracles to prove that he was God’s long-awaited Messiah, he chose 12 disciples to accompany him. Among these men, Peter was the natural leader. He was brave, strong willed, and unafraid to speak his mind. If Peter was in your school class, he’d be the kid jumping to answer every question first, whether he was right or wrong.

One day, Jesus was teaching his disciples about forgiveness. Wanting to look good, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). The Jewish religious leaders at the time taught that forgiving someone three times was good enough. So by suggesting seven times, Peter figured he was being superholy.

Jesus’ answer must have surprised him: “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven!” (see Matthew 18:22).

DECODING THE MESSAGE

What an interesting answer from Jesus. Does that mean if someone hits you 490 times, you should forgive, but on the 491st time, you can start pounding him? No way!

Jesus picked a really big number like 490 to make this point: you should always forgive those who wrong you. It was a lesson the disciples (and we!) needed to hear.

Why should we always forgive? Jesus answered that by telling his disciples a story: there was a man who owed his master a huge sum of money that he could never repay. After the man begged for mercy, the master graciously forgave the entire debt.

But after leaving, the man found one of his fellow servants who owed him a very small amount. Even though the man had just been forgiven a massive debt, he mistreated his fellow servant and threw him in jail. Soon, the master found out and justly punished the unforgiving man (see Matthew 18:23-34).

In Jesus’ story, the master represents God, and the two servants represent humans. If we’ve put our faith in Jesus, God has mercifully forgiven us of a lifetime of sins —an enormous debt that we could never repay. Because we’ve been forgiven so much, we should always forgive others, too. No matter how (or how many times) anyone wrongs you, it doesn’t compare to all your sins against God that he forgives through Jesus.

Peter learned a crucial lesson about forgiveness that day. Hopefully, you did too!

BATTLE PLAN

Read and practice Matthew 18:15. If people sin against you, gently approach them about it and forgive them.