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Learning to Forgive Without Limits · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, it's friendly. Welcome back to another episode
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  on the podcast. I want to go into a little
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  background before I go right into the story because before I
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  even sat down for quiet time this morning, I went on a prayer
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  walk and I believe is the Holy Spirit giving me this exact
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  thing to pray. But I found myself asking God,
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  would you help me realize more and more how much I've been
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  forgiven so that it translates into how I can forgive and love
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  others even more? And it was almost immediately
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  that I heard the verse, whoever's forgiven little loves
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  little. And this is from Luke 747.
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  That verse honestly convicted me because frankly, I do not want
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  to live unaware of the great, deep and wide forgiveness that
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  I've received. I want to grasp it more so that
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  it shapes the way that I love and forgive those around me.
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  So whenever I opened my Bible, my quiet time afterwards, and
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  found myself in Matthew chapter 18, it felt like the Lord was
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  telling me this is exactly why I had you praying.
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  That and what I want to teach you today.
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  So I'm going to read some of the verses verbatim, but I will be
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  paraphrasing the parable for the sake of time because it's a
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  little bit more lengthy, but we're going to start in verse 21
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  and it'll end in 35. This is titled Jesus tells the
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  parable of the unforgiving debtor.
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  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times
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  shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
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  Up to seven times. And Jesus answered, I tell you
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  not 7 times, but 77 times. OK, so then it goes into the
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  parable and Jesus is telling a story about a king who is
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  settling accounts with his servants.
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  One survey is brought before him.
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  He owes an unpayable debt. It's such a big debt that in the
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  commentary it explains it was worth almost 20 years of daily
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  labor and wages. So there's no realistic way to
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  actually repay it in this moment.
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  And for context, at this time the consequences were super
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  serious for debt. You could be thrown into prison.
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  You might have to sell your entire family into slavery or
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  sell all of your possessions. So this servant, he falls to his
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  knees and pleads for mercy before the king.
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  But instead of punishment, we see the king so moved with
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  compassion that he completely forgives the debt and lets the
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  servant go. But literally moments later,
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  that same servant leaves and finds yet another servant who
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  owes him a smaller debt in comparison to what he initially
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  owed. And when that man begs him for
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  patience and forgiveness, the servant refuses and has him
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  thrown into prison for his consequence.
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  So this gets back to the king. He hears about this and he calls
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  the forgiven servant in and he's like, I forgave you of all of
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  your debt, of everything. Why did you not show mercy just
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  as I showed you mercy? So I think this story is making
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  it so clear that failing to forgive reveals a heart that
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  never truly understood the mercy that it received.
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  And for context, just to help with this story, why this was so
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  radical is before telling this parable, Peter asked Jesus a
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  question. And at the time, Jewish rabbis
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  and teachers, they taught and believed that you only had to
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  forgive someone three times, and after the third time, you were
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  justified in holding it against them.
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  So with Peter asking Jesus, OK, seven times, he thinks he's
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  being generous because also seven in the Bible, it
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  represents the number of completion and perfection.
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  So Peter, I think thought he was going above and beyond.
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  But Jesus responds, no, 77 times, AKA do not place a limit
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  on forgiveness. So that's what makes this
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  parable and story so powerful, because it shows the danger of
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  receiving mercy and forgiveness without letting it transform
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  your heart. So this passage, it's inviting
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  us to reflect honestly. And I want you all to just think
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  right now, how many times each day, even in small ways, have I
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  missed the mark? Maybe it's in your thoughts, in
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  your words, even reactions and responses to other people.
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  And we also see in Lamentations 322 through 2023, it reminds us
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  because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed for
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  His mercies never fail. They are new every morning,
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  y'all. Every single day you wake up,
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  there is a clean slate for you. And that perspective should
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  change how we view forgiveness. And I realized because I was
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  kind of wrestling with the same thing in my own thoughts, like
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  forgiveness can raise real tension because you might think,
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  well, I don't want to be taken advantage of.
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  I don't want to be walked all over, or I want to use wisdom in
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  this. But Scripture is talking about
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  true repentance. And it's important to recognize
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  that repentance, it's not just saying the right words.
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  It's turning away from sin and your wrongdoing, and it's
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  turning to God. This takes humility.
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  It takes a changed heart and intentional efforts to grow in
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  this. And that applies to others and
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  to us. So we know growth takes time,
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  accountability, and practice. I went into that yesterday.
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  But when failure happens again, grace gives space for us to
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  grow. And just to define grace for
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  y'all, because I think it's helpful.
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  In simple terms, it's God's undeserved kindness toward us.
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  So here's the heart of the message, the core truth that I
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  want to emphasize today. Fully grasping God's forgiveness
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  toward you should result in a free and willing posture of
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  forgiveness toward others. Jesus himself, he sets this
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  standard because guys, while hanging on the cross, he has
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  nails driven through his hands. He cries out, Father, forgive
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  them, for they do not know what they're doing.
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  This is Luke 2334. Let that image settle in for a
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  second. It is so, so impactful and
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  important. Not forgiving others.
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  This places us outside the posture that Jesus invites us
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  and calls us into because he loved radically and
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  sacrificially. It will not always be easy by
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  any means, but I do believe that oftentimes it's in those hard,
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  hard moments of forgiveness that are the most challenging that
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  Jesus is displayed through US most clearly and most vividly.
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  So instead of asking yourself, do I have to forgive them?
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  Y'all? What if we begin asking?
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  I get to forgive them because of how God has forgiven me.
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  It says in Romans 12/9 that love must be sincere.
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  So forgiving with bitterness in your heart or resentment just to
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  say that we did it. The bottom line is that is
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  legalism because it's rule keeping.
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  It's doing the right thing without a heart change.
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  So true forgiveness, it starts by asking God to soften our
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  hearts and to help us more deeply receive His love so that
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  we can reflect it genuinely. So I'm going to move into prayer
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  right now. Dear Father God.
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  Thank you, Lord, for your mercy that you lavish on us and pour
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  out again and again so often that it is more than we can even
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  realize or fathom. Would you help us to see the
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  depth of the forgiveness that you have given us through Jesus
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  Christ, where our hearts might be guarded or calloused or
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  hardened? Lord, would you soften them
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  gently? Would you mold us into people
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  who don't just speak forgiveness or empty words just to do it,
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  but who truly demonstrate the love of Jesus through the way
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  that we live and the way that we love others radically and
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  sacrificially. May we behold you, Jesus, your
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  sacrifice on that cross in our hearts, in our minds, every
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  single day. We surrender this work in our
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  hearts to you. We love you so, so much.
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  We ask this all in your name, Jesus, Amen.
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  All right, well, that is today's episode and praying for you guys
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  that you can finish the week out strong and I will see you all in
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  the next one. Bye.