At what point do you stop forgiving?
What if you’ve been forgiving the same people, for the same things, year after year; at what time do you stop forgiving?
At what point do you say, enough is enough?
How often do you have to keep releasing your right to get even?
I’ve truly been curious. And when that happens, I always run to a source that often meets my curiousity- the B-I-B-L-E!
Someone else asked this same question of Jesus.
“Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, seven times? Asked Peter.
In Jewish law, you had to forgive a person three times, and after you’d forgiven them three times, that was it, but here, Peter made sure to add an additional four.
Jesus, probably smiled at Peter’s attempt to outdo his fellowmen, and said to him, “Wrong! You’re not even close! How about seventy times seven!”
Peter’s mouth must have propped open when he heard Jesus’ response. He knew that Jesus did not mean literally 70 x 7 (or 490 times) and once you get to 491,one would say, “sorry, no more forgiveness.”
But just in case there were misunderstanding, Jesus did what he loved to do. He told a parable that will help those listening to understand better. It went like this…
This king wanted to settle accounts with his servants, but then he came across the account of a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold. He had no way of paying it. So the master ordered that he, his wife, his children, and all he had must be sold in order to repay. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to repay, the servant fell on his face and begged for a little time. Much to his amazement, the King had compassion on him and cancelled his debt clean, and sent him home to his lovely family.
But would you believe that Mr. man went out and saw his fellow servant who owed him a hundred silver coins, the forgiven debtor grabbed his fellow servant by the throat, and began to choke him, demanding he pay back the money he owed to him? The servant fell right to his face and began to plea, just as his attacker did a few moments ago. But no, Mr. Man wasn’t having it. He had the man thrown in prison. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. (Matthew 18:33)
What a story huhn? Jesus made it clear that we should NEVER stop forgiving!
When we refuse to show others the mercy, we are acting like this servant. We have been forgiven so much, we have NO RIGHT to withhold forgiveness from others.
Let me ask you this then; shouldn’t we have mercy on others, just a Jesus continually extends forgiveness towards us?
I will admit that I’m currently having one of the hardest time forgiving.
The answer to the questions I had asked isn’t a hard one to find, it’s just difficult for us to execute because we’re always operating from a self or emotional standpoint. We aren’t able to forgive easily because we always get in our own way with feelings and emotions. I am not saying we’re robots and don’t feel hurt. I am saying, we can love that person, those people, through the hurt.
You just keep on forgiving until the pain stops. Every time you remember that hurt, you make an intentional choice to say, “God, that person really hurt me, and it still hurts. But because I want to be filled with love and not resentment, I am choosing to give up my right to get even and wish bad on that person. I am choosing to bless those who hurt me. God, I pray you’ll bless their lives — not because they deserve it. They don’t. I don’t deserve your blessing either, God. But I pray that you’d show grace to them like you’ve shown to me.”
It’s not easy. It’s a strange phenomenon, but what else is new in this walk with Christ?
So then, “at what point do you stop forgiving someone?”
Powerful message and lesson. If God never forgave us, what would have happened to us? Therefore, forgiving others is necessary, if we are going to live with Jesus eternally. We have to forgive to live.
The Question is asked When will you cry Enough is Enough ?
The answer is humanly speaking Enough is Enough but with the help of the Almighty we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us Phill 4:13 not in our strength because we are weak but through Christ which Strengthens us.
May God help us all to have that forgiven spirit we cannot or I can not do it on my own but with God’s help
Lord have mercy 🙏🙏
As children of God, we can’t say enough is enough. Why? Simply because we have to forgive to be forgiven.God’s character is love, and he never give up on us, so as you rightly said, Never.