Just Do It
Scripture:
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times? “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’
Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
—Matthew 18:21–35 (NLT)
Peter thought he was being generous. Seven times was more than most people would offer, and he probably expected Jesus to affirm it. But Jesus reframes the question entirely. The issue isn’t the number. It is the posture of the heart. And to make sure the point lands, He tells a story. A man is forgiven a debt so enormous it could never be repaid in a hundred lifetimes. He walks out of the king’s presence free, the record wiped clean. And then, almost immediately, he finds someone who owes him a small fraction of that same debt and has him thrown in prison. The contrast is jarring on purpose.
The man in that story is not a villain we can comfortably keep at a distance. He is a mirror. We see ourselves in him every time we receive grace freely and dispense it reluctantly. Every time we rehearse what someone did to us while forgetting the debt we ourselves have been forgiven. Forgiveness is not a feeling that arrives when the other person has earned it. It is a choice we make because of what has already been done for us. Jesus doesn’t say wait until it feels right. He doesn’t say wait until they apologize. He says forgive. From the heart. As you have been forgiven.
So if you are holding something against someone today, you already know what to do. Just do it.
Reflection:
- Is there anyone you are struggling to forgive right now?
- How has God’s forgiveness in your life shaped your perspective on forgiving others?
- What step do you need to take today to truly release someone and walk in forgiveness?
Prayer:
Thank God for the mercy He has extended to you without limit. Ask Him for the courage and humility to extend that same forgiveness to someone else today.