Matthew 18:21 “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
A parable is told in Matthew 18:23-33 where a servant was forgiven his debt of ten thousand talents but he himself (the forgiven) could not find it within himself to forgive another who owed him a hundred pence. Jesus goes on to say that as the king dealt with this unforgiving servant, so will He do to us if we do not forgive.
God forgave us our sins which had condemned us to death as Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” In return or rather it is expected of us to be forgiving towards our fellow brethren. We were delivered from eternal death by God; and there is nothing that we can do to equate to such mercy that the Lord has given to us. This means it does no matter what our brethren has done to us; it might be stepping on your toe, raping your 3 month old daughter and living her with the HIV virus, murdering your husband or parent, robbing you, falsely accusing you; whatever it may be we are expected to be forgiving. These offences are nowhere near to eternal death and so we have no reason not to forgive.
Jesus offers us the power and spirit to forgive like He did only if we humble ourselves and embrace His saving grace. During the proceedings leading to the crucifixion, Christ had every reason to be angry and let go. After all, though innocent, he was dying for the same people who were crucifying Him. But for our sake, he suffered long and bore it all.
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