Forgive and Accept

Forgiveness requires a lot of faith. In Luke 17, Jesus tells his disciples that they must forgive others. The major question isn’t do I forgive, but how many times do I forgive.

No one wants to be taken as a fool. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” This saying (wonderfully misstated by George W.) puts me at the center of Forgiveness.

Jesus said, if your brother sins, rebuke him, if he repents then forgive him. If he sins seven times in the same day and returns to say, “I repent,” then you must forgive and accept him.

If you’re trying to think of a way out of this scenario you are not alone. The disciples didn’t try to figure it out, they just said, “Increase our faith.”

Forgiving others in the way that Jesus taught requires faith. It is the belief that if we obey Jesus, He will bring about the life change in a person’s life.

I don’t want to be taken as a fool, so I rationalize a way to forgive but not accept someone when they keep messing up.

Jesus’s response to them, “It only takes a little faith.” A little faith in Jesus goes a long way. Why? Because Jesus is bundling together Forgiveness and Acceptance for you.

There is no limit to how many times we are to forgive and accept someone, especially those who believe in Jesus, our brother and sister faith-members.

It’s clear that we don’t accept faith-members sinfulness (Jesus starts with discipline), yet, we are to forgive and accept, constantly.

Why? Because we have been forgiven and accepted! God continues to forgive us. Yes, we are guilty of sinning, ALL OF US.

It’s tough to obey Jesus when He says things like this and we have all the reasoning behind our decisions, but He gave us these instructions so that we can have life and life more abundantly.

Do you forgive, but have rejected someone? It’s time to make that change. Speak to that person, let them know why you forgive them and accept them. I promise you it will change your life and theirs—Jesus promises you.

Remember, the Word of God speaks most clearly when you are reading the Bible.

Photo by Gus Moretta on Unsplash