Christmas Is Forgiving Series

Now that is tough! If we don’t forgive others then we are out of luck according to Jesus. Why? Well I don’t know for sure, but I think Jesus is saying that if we can’t find it in our hearts to forgive others, we may not have experienced his forgiveness.

Why is this so tough? Well if you are anything like me, you’ll forgive someone once, and maybe even twice, but after that—watch out. Your getting revenge, or your writing that person off.

Your question is probably the same question Peter had for Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22. Listen to their conversation: "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?” [I bet Peter felt pretty good about himself for thinking he could forgive someone 7 times.] But look at how Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Jesus is saying there should be no limit to the number of times we forgive those who have hurt us.

This is hard for us to do, isn’t it! It’s not just hard to forgive our families for the hurt they’ve caused. It’s hard to forgive our friends, our co-workers, even the Christians we go to church with. Here is a cartoon I cracked up at the other day. Take a look:

Isn’t that great! This is funny because a church shouldn’t be a place that needs an amnesty month. Amnesty means pardoned or forgiven. Pardon or forgiveness should be what we are about as Christians, as the church of God. That is what Jesus is saying when he says we need to forgive an unlimited number of times. People leave churches all the time because they can’t forgive someone in the church that hurt them or because they’ve hurt someone in the church who will not forgive them. This lack of forgiveness gives God’s people, Christians, the church, a bad name!

Who Do You Need to Forgive

Ask God who is it in your life that you haven’t forgiven? Write their names on you note sheet this morning. (Now if you had a fight with your spouse on the way here this morning—probably not wise to write their name down and elbow them. That is sure fire way to end up in the doghouse or on the couch.) Who is it you haven’t forgiven. Make a choice to pray for them and forgive them today!

How Do We Forgive

Now how in the world do you forgive that person that keeps slighting you, hurting you? How do you forgive someone when you really don’t fell like it, when you don’t want to and they don’t deserve it? How can you get to the place where you choose to forgive that person? Here’s how: Focus on how God has forgiven you.

Filing Cabinet Illustration

If you are anything like me you can probably relate to the idea of having a filing cabinet full of records about the sins you’ve committed against God. I imagine my filing cabinet of sins is something like the drawer Jim Carry pulls out when he meets God in the movie Bruce Almighty. Anyone seen this movie? If you haven’t here’s a clip of what I’m talking about.