“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” Luke 17:3-4
Jesus knew that at some point someone will do something bad against you. It will be wrong and it will hurt. With that in mind, He set up two requirements in dealing with it.
The first is to rebuke the person. This is just a simple letting them know that they did something wrong against you. It is not bringing down curses upon them or condemning them.
There are many times a person can hurt someone without even realizing they did so. You have a choice, you can ignore it and forgive them without ever saying anything; or you can let them know what happened.
Once you have let them know the problem, if they are sorry for what they did, Jesus had the second requirement–to forgive them. This is to put the sin and hurt into the past.
Not only are you to forgive that person that time, but even if he sins against you seven times in a day and each time repents, you must still forgive him.
For many people, this is the hardest part. Most people want revenge against the person. They want the person to be in trouble and pay for what he did.
You must remember what Jesus has done for you. How many times have you sinned against God? How many times have you repented of a sin? How many times have you repeated that sin and then repented again? Each time you repented, God has forgiven you.
Your sins deserved the death sentence on your life. Yet, God in His great love and mercy has forgiven you through Jesus. You need to be willing to pass this love and mercy on to others when they repent. You must be willing to forgive others when they sin against you.
You are not above God, so if God can forgive you, you must forgive others. It will not always be easy, but with God’s Spirit and strength, you can do it.
I pray today that God will help you to love others; that God will help you to forgive those who harm you; that you will realize what Jesus has done for you; and that you will represent Jesus to others.
It does require repentance. We shouldn’t forgive unless they repent otherwise we are not loving.
You do bring up a good point about needing repentance to occur first. I agree with you. Thank you for sharing that.
Have a blessed day in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ