70 x 7

It´s so hard to forgive sometimes, isn't it? Especially when the sin is against you or someone you love. At least I have trouble with that. It seems I have more compassion on the people I have never even met than the people that I know best, but I don´t believe it should be that way. We as Christians, God´s forgiven people, should be forgiving to all because we know how wonderful it feels to be forgiven.

I, as a Christian, don´t want to hold grudges against people. What right do we have to do that? We are sinners just like the rest, we are just sinners saved by the grace of God. We, sinners, holding grudges against other people would fit under the label of hypocrisy.

What if Jesus decided one day that He couldn't forgive us because our sins are to big or we have made the same mistake over and over? What would we do then? We would be lost, scared, confused, broken, but we know that Jesus would never do that and we are called to be like Jesus.

Jesus set the perfect example of true forgiveness. He was innocent, beaten, forced to carry a huge cross, nailed to the cross, then killed. And that is a vague list. He had every right to get mad at the people that were doing those things to Him. He could have easily called down angels to kill those people. He could have prayed to God to send those people to Hell... but He didn't... We read that He called out "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."


I do not know about you, but I, if I were in Jesus' situation, would have trouble praying for God to forgive them... but I hope that I could! I want to be like Jesus!
While struggling with this topic I stumbled across this verse in 1 Peter 4:8. It says, "Above all, love deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins." And it´s true. Haven´t you ever loved someone, probably a child, so much that when they do mess up you love them the same and barely recognize their flaw? That is the love Peter was talking about. A love that covers a multitude of sins, and that is the kind of love we as Christians should strive for! That is the kind of love that I want to have towards all people in Peru, America and anywhere else I may go!