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“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)

I was out the door by 5:30 am, because at 6:00 am I needed to be ready to start working with my physical therapist at a clinic. The next two hours were tough. I worked hard to make my ankle and foot do some things it hadn’t done in almost a year. Each time I learned a new exercise, repetitions helped my body to remember the moves. According to the physical therapist, the tendons and ligaments needed to be reminded about the part they play in making my ankle and foot work together. At times, when I had weights placed on my foot before doing the exercise, it would get hard to move, but I could not quit. I had to keep doing it so that my foot would remember that it could do those motions and the stiffness would break away.

A similar exercise we must do repetitiously is helping our heart to forgive. When the pain of the wrong done to us hurts so badly, we don’t want to set those who wronged us free. Jesus’ answer to Peter shows us that we must keep on forgiving until we are free from the pain of the hurt. If my math is right, the number of times we should forgive is 490 times. Wow! With as much exercise as that on our heart muscle, the heart will be likely to soften up, wouldn’t you agree?

Practicing forgiveness can make pain and hurt dissipate and helps us look at others through the eyes of Jesus. If we look at forgiveness as a two-way street where we need it just as much as we give it, then there is a likelihood that more people around us will be healthy and happy because the stiffness of grudges will melt with our actions.

“Thank You, Jesus, for giving us the recipe for health and strength.”

For His Glory

Luska Natali
TRBC Women’s Life