In Matthew 18:28, Jesus continues with the parable saying, “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’”

Do we show the same grace and mercy that has been shown to us for all that we’ve done against the will of God? Often, when we get into desperate situations, we try to find anyone who owes us a debt and we attempt to collect from them. We can be very harsh, demeaning and in many cases, worse than non-believers. The worse part is, that person owes us or wronged us is much less than what we have done to someone else. We can be so mean and vengeful to people when it is something pertaining to us while we always expect mercy and grace to be granted to us. Jesus commanded us to “do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:12 NLT) We should not be so harsh and disrespectful with others. Remember, God forgave us of our evil desires, wicked hearts and disrespectful nature towards Him. It is only right that we extended the same grace, mercy and peace of God to everyone whether they have wronged us or not; especially those who are yet to know Jesus Christ personally.

In Matthew 18:21, Simon Peter asks Jesus, “How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

It is inevitable that someone we are close to is going to offend us, hurt us, or just not pay attention our feelings. Sometimes we are the one who offends, hurts, and not pay attention to the feelings of those who are close to us. Forgiveness is one of the toughest things to do. Some of us hold onto grudges for decades. It may be over the smallest thing in the world. It seems if we offend or hurt someone, we feel they are obligated to forgive us, but if someone offends us, it is impossible for us to forgive them. Imagine having to forgive someone up to seven times! That sounds like a miracle in itself. How can we let someone continually offend us? Most of us have a mindset to maybe forgive once, but if it happens again, it’s time to hit the road. However, it seems I can’t go a week without offending the people I am closest to less than seven times, let alone in one day. If the limit is seven times, I am already way over my limit. Well, next time we’ll find out what Jesus thinks about extending forgiveness seven times…

In Matthew 10:40, Jesus is near the end of His instructions to the disciples before sending them out and He says to them, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Now, my beloved, let us not be selfish, but be filled with loving hearts, compassion, forgiveness, and receiving everyone. Remember Jesus said what we do to the least, we also do it onto Him. We must not gossip and have hate filled hearts towards one another. We cannot say we love Jesus but hate everyone else. If we love Jesus, we must love and care for everyone else and if we hate everyone who displeases us, we also hate Jesus. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we were filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which never departs from us. The love that was shown to us and for us on the cross must be reflected through each second of our lives receiving our brothers and sisters, sitting them down at our tables, loving one another as Christ first loved us.

In Matthew 9:2 Jesus is having a conversation with a man:

² Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.“

Thank You God for Your forgiving heart. We are sinful people but you love us so much that you wiped us clean of our sins through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Your Lamb, the sacrifice for our sins. We thank You God that we will never have to face Your wrath. We are so blessed to read, hear, know, and truly believe with all our hearts when You say, “your sins are forgiven.” Many people do not have the peace to know that their sins are forgiven because they are expecting to be judged by You. We know we have already been judged; our old nature was crucified with Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross; we were buried with Him, and when He rose again, we rose with Him in our new nature, our new body, our new creation in Jesus Christ. We have truly experienced the gift of salvation. So to everyone, remember, as long as you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, “your sins are forgiven.”

If anyone does not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and would like your sins forgiven too, just admit to Him that you are a sinner, ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and to come into your life; you will then be made whole and new through the power of the Holy Spirit from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

One of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard starts with “Everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing,” and continues with “Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior.” This song has truly touched me. So many times, we go through live with an unforgiving heavy heart.

Relationships in families, marriages, friendships and so much more can be ruined with lack of forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the key elements in life. Being that NOBODY is perfect, when you make a mistake, you expect to be forgiven, so why must you be unforgiving?   After all, Jesus was crucified on a cross to forgive us of our sins so we can live eternally; so how can we not forgive others? Can we really say a person has caused us more pain than the pain Jesus went through for our sins?

Matthew 18:21-22 reads ²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Jesus will forgive us as many times as it takes to get it right! As hurt as you may be, we must be forgiving, compassionate, loving, and accepting of the faults and flaws of the people we love. It is what strengthens us in Christ. Holding a grudge hurts you more than the person who has wronged you.

So many relationships suffer because both parties are unwilling to accept the fact that humans make mistakes. Instead of working through the rough times, they abandon the ship and dwell on the pain instead of aspiring to work together and progress.

In my line of work, there is something called regression testing. That is when you go back to check if the prior mistakes have been corrected. This should not apply to relationships.  One of the worst things to do is bring up prior incidents and situations. That is not really forgiveness. That is just collecting leverage to use against a person when future mistakes are made.

Pure forgiveness is acknowledging that although something has occurred, it will NOT tear our relationship apart. We can talk through it, and work together to leave it behind us. Nothing is too big to accomplish through Christ.

I am not saying to allow yourself to be a doormat and have people walk all over you; you must carry your faith strongly. However, you must remember that we all fall, and just as Jesus was there to extend his hands to save the disciples on drowning, He will reach out His hands to pick us up when we fall down; you must be willing to do the same for the people you love.

If we walk with compassion, understanding, love, and forgiveness, none being greater than the other, then we can be that brightly shining light in the lives of others that allows them to know we are all human, and you will be there for them to love and forgive them just as our Savior is there to do the same for us.