Forgiveness, Part 2

Last night, we looked at some responses to Jesus' teaching on prayer found in Luke 17:3-4 which is:
So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you and says ‘I repent,’ forgive him.
We also discussed several points we often overlook. Don't we tell our kids to overlook offenses? Jesus told them not to ignore it but indeed to rebuke the brother. I asked if we should forgive if the brother does not repent, noting that Jesus says we should forgive IF the brother repents. We also talked about it's not up to us to believe the repentance is genuine. Here are some thoughts of three eighth grade girls.

"I don't think its possible to forgive someone seven times a day. I don't think you can because some people may have done something intentionally. If someone did something to me and meant to do it, I wouldn't forgive him. I don't get why Jesus should make us forgive someone seven times a day when that person does it on purpose." Ruby

"I think it is possible to forgive someone seven times a day because it depends on what the situation is. If someone murders seven of your relatives in a day, it would be pretty hard, maybe impossible, to forgive that person. If a person lies to you seven times in a day, it may be a little easier to forgive them. It all depends on the person and how strong their faith is. I believe everyone makes mistakes and one of the ways to not carry the burden longer is to be forgiven or ask for forgiveness." Taylor E.

"I don't think its possible to forgive someone seven times in a day because it only matters what people do to you. If it is something simple like making a funny joke about you seven times in a day to embarrass you, then I think I can forgive that person. If someone curses at you, I think I could forgive them because cursing is in our everyday lifestyle, even though it is not right. But if it is something as big as someone telling your biggest secrets, then I could not forgive them even three times in a day. Like I said, it matters what the person did." Cydney

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com