Matthew 18:21-22 “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!’”

“When a memory or flashback intrudes on your day, examine it and consider this: Have I already forgiven this person and released this event? Or have I buried the hurt and anger, and am I still being ruled by what is buried?”(pg. 86)

I have heard Matthew 18:21-22 many many times with growing up in a Christian home going to church every Sunday. It’s kinda one of those verses that if you grow up in church and hear so many times you just think, “yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that” but don’t seek to understand the verse.

More times than others when a memory has come back to me I am pretty sure I’m guilty of burying the hurt and anger instead of already forgiving the person. Before I started to read “Free Yourself to Love” by Jackie Kendall I would say I forgive the person, I would ask God to forgive them, but I would still hold onto the offense. So did I truly forgive the person when I asked God to forgive them? I was always unsure.

Jackie Kendall goes into a great explanation about forgiveness and when memories come back about an offense. Just because we forgive someone doesn’t mean that we will forget about what happened. Every time the memory or flashback comes to mind it is another opportunity for us to forgive again, and sometimes again and again. Chapter 5 called, “Held Hostage by Assaulting Memories,” is my favorite chapter so far in this book teaching on these verses in Matthew. Jesus isn’t saying that we even only forgive one certain person 490 times, we are to go even further than that and forgive each offense that many times, and sometimes more!

My selfishness wants to place a limit on others. I want to give them only so many chances with me before I give up on them and block them out of my life. Jackie pointed out that even the best husband in the world will need to be forgiven over and over, and that as a wife I will too. As long as you are human and interacting with other humans there will be disappointments, misunderstandings, hurts and so on. We need to forgive and continue to forgive. There is only one we can have a relationship with who will never disappoint us or hurt us, and that is with Jesus Christ. Christ is always there for us and always ready to forgive.