Freely Forgive (May 9, 2023)

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)

In order to please God and pursue a lifestyle befitting His children, Christians must readily forgive those who have wronged us. We cannot expect God to forgive us of our sins if we are unwilling to pardon others who have trespassed against us. Believers are directed to go about, to quote Colossians 3:13, “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Modeling the ultimate example of forgiveness, Jesus cried out from the Cross for God to show compassion to those who brutally crucified Him, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) A few years later Stephen, the first Christian martyr, echoed Jesus’s prayerful plea as he was being stoned to death.  Acts 7:60 says that Stephen “knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”

Jesus commands His followers to love one another as He loves us. Christ further instructs that we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. By this brotherly love, we are known as Jesus’ earthly disciples. Among the greatest expressions of Christlike love is humble, obedient forgiveness of others, even those we regard as foes. With tenderheartedness and leniency, as God offers us His grace, we are to freely and faithfully forgive others without exception.

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