When God Asks You to Forgive Again

Good morning, and welcome to Grace For Another Morning.

There are some things we would rather forgive once and be finished with.

We forgive the words that hurt us. We forgive the disappointment. We forgive the betrayal. We pray about it, surrender it to God, and believe we have finally put it behind us.

Then something brings it back.

A name is mentioned.

A memory surfaces.

The same person disappoints us again.

Suddenly, the hurt we thought was settled feels very much alive.

Peter understood that struggle.

He came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”

Peter may have thought seven times sounded generous. Surely there had to be a point when forgiveness had been offered enough.

Jesus answered, “Until seventy times seven.”

Jesus was not asking Peter to keep a notebook and stop forgiving when he reached number four hundred ninety. He was teaching him that forgiveness is not meant to be rationed.

That can be difficult.

Forgiveness does not mean pretending something did not hurt. It does not mean calling wrong behavior acceptable. It does not always mean restoring the relationship to exactly what it was before.

Forgiveness means refusing to allow another person’s wrong to become a permanent tenant in our heart.

Sometimes that decision has to be made more than once.

You may have sincerely forgiven someone yesterday and discover this morning that resentment is trying to return. When that happens, you simply have another opportunity to place the hurt back into God’s hands.

Forgive again.

Not because the person deserves another release from your anger.

Forgive because Christ has called you to freedom.

Bitterness keeps reopening the wound. Forgiveness places the wound in the hands of the One who knows how to heal it.

There may also be times when forgiveness must exist alongside wisdom. You can forgive someone and still establish boundaries. You can release resentment without volunteering to be harmed again. Forgiveness and trust are not always restored at the same speed.

The important thing is that your heart does not become a prison built around what someone else did.

Jesus knew we would encounter people who would hurt us more than once. He also knew there would be memories we might have to surrender more than once.

That is why His answer to Peter reaches far beyond counting.

When the hurt returns, forgive again.

When the memory rises, forgive again.

When you find yourself rehearsing the offense one more time, give it back to God one more time.

You do not have to carry yesterday’s injury through another morning.