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.
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