Forgiveness Is For Me – September 13, 2026

One key truth: God has forgiven our great debt and calls us to forgive others as well.

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

Forgiveness Is For Me

That question is repeated near the end of “It’s Quiet Uptown” from the musical Hamilton. After Alexander Hamilton’s betrayal and the crushing loss of their son, his wife, Eliza, does something almost unimaginable: she forgives him.

Forgiveness is hard for us as humans. Our instinct is to lash out and hold grudges when someone hurts us.

That’s why Peter thought he was being generous when he suggested forgiving someone seven times. Many religious teachers of his day suggested forgiving someone three times. Peter more than doubled that number. Jesus shocked him: not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Jesus wasn’t replacing Peter’s limit with a larger limit. He was teaching Peter not to keep score at all.

It’s important to understand what forgiving someone really entails. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that you’re saying what they’ve done is okay (otherwise they wouldn’t need to be forgiven). It’s also not saying that you’ll automatically trust them again or that it’s like nothing ever happened.

Forgiving someone is saying to them, “I’m not going to hurt you back for what you’ve done to me.” Forgiveness means releasing the debt rather than demanding revenge. It means refusing to keep using the person’s sin as a weapon against them. That can be difficult—and sometimes it is something we must keep bringing to God.

That’s exactly what God says to you and to me. Every time we sin, we sin against God. It is an attack on him. God would be within his right to lash back at us and make us pay for our sin. Instead, he says, “I forgive you. I’m not going to hurt you back for what you’ve done to me. Instead, I sent my Son, Jesus, to pay for your sin.”

Because of Jesus, forgiveness is for me. Forgiveness is for you. Can you imagine?

The more clearly we see the enormous debt God has forgiven us, the less tightly we will hold other people’s sins against them. Forgiveness may still be painful. Trust may take time to rebuild. But we can forgive because we already live beneath an ocean of God’s forgiveness.

Forgiveness is mine to receive. Forgiveness is mine to give. Can you imagine?

Prayer:

Father in heaven, thank you for showering me with your forgiveness. Help me to be quick to forgive others as well. Amen.