SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN

Since Seven is significant
to God's perfection -
Wouldn’t it call into reason
that forgiveness would extend
from seventy times seven!

I mean think about it,
It’s easy to love 
someone who is good,
but it's hard to love
someone you hate.

It’s quite proportional,
is it not?

There’s a difference between
being betrayed a little,
or being betrayed a lot!

Seventy times seven
is probably the least amount 
we need to forgive.
Since we are just humans 
who constantly trip over
our own sin. 

But not our God!
He is totally pure.
Free from disease,
and all that is impure!

I remember in 2 Kings,
Verse 5:10,
The prophet Elisha
sent a message to the soldier, Naaman.
He said, “Go and wash yourself
seven times in the Jordan River.
Then your skin will be restored,
and you will be healed again.
At first he refused,
but then he decided to commit 
when his officers
reasoned with him.

“Sir,
if the prophet had told you
to do something very difficult,
wouldn’t you have done it?
So you should certainly obey him
when he simply says,
“Go and wash in the Jordan.”

So Naaman went
down to the river
and dipped himself
seven times,
as the prophet
had instructed him.

And just as for-told,
his skin became healthy again,
in fact it was better -
he resembled a youthful man.”

Seven times seventy,
this is how many times
we are commanded to forgive!
Seventy times seven -
this is what it takes
for us be untangled from them.

In forgiveness
is how we learn to love. 
This is why Jesus tells us
to love as God does.

Can you imagine,
if we had to rely on man
to send pure love
throughout the land?
It would be unattainable
without the sacrifice
of Christ's blood.

In an instant,
when Jesus came
he took ALL our sin
and paid our debt.

Through the suffering
of a cruel death,
we were set free
from our entangled mess.

In deep roots of bitterness,
we become less like him,
and more like us.
This is what
our sin does...
it traps us together
and entangles us.

The more we accuse,
and angrier we get,
the more we blame
and get stuck in the web.

Un-forgivineness -
it is the glue
that sticks us together
when we won’t let it go.

It justifies
all attributes,
when we lead
from the flesh.

This is why
we must choose,
to yoke ourselves
to the only one who soothes.

Jesus is the only way
to learn how to love,
it was through suffering
that he died and rose above.
  
He rose above
the shame that defied him.
He rose above
the accusations aimed at him.

He rose above 
the arrows of the enemy.
He broke all the chains
that refused to set us free.

Seven times seventy
This is how many times
we are commanded to forgive!
Seventy times seven -
this is what it takes
to stand righteous before him.