What am I talking about? Forgiving someone seventy times seven?

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matt. 18:21-22 ESV

That is 490 times! That’s a lot!

Although Jesus did not say seventy times seven per day in the above verse, he does specifically say “per day” in others.

In Luke 17:4 (NIV), Jesus says, “If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent’, forgive him.”

In the Bible, seven is the number of completion. An example is Gen. 2:2-3 (NIV)

“By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he ceased from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased from all the work of creating that he had done.” The footnote in the NIV Bible says the word ceased was used instead of rested.

Seventy signifies spiritual perfection. So seventy times seven means we need to forgive someone completely, and not let it continue to fester or play over and over again in our minds.

The only way we can get rid of it is through the spiritual perfection of Jesus, in us.

We must die to self daily. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20 NIV

Since Christ lives in me, I must allow his life to flow through me and choose to do so daily, through faith. It doesn’t matter if they are sorry or not. I must forgive as he forgives.

Read the full devotion at https://devotableapp.com/daily-devotion-forgive-someone-seventy-times-seven/