I LOVED HEARING my father-in-law teach on Mark 11:22–24. For a point of reference, let’s review those scriptures. “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Reading and believing this passage raised him from the deathbed at age 16. He spoke on those verses often. I never grew tired of them. However, I wasn’t as excited about the scriptures that came immediately after.

He continued to Mark 11:25–26, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Then he would say, “If you don’t practice Mark 11:25, your faith will not work.”

If we want to live a successful life, we must learn to forgive. Some people find it easy to forgive. Others do not. Forgiveness is not an option for the Christian. It’s a command.

Forgiveness isn’t easy to master, is it? When someone hurts us, lets us down, or disappoints us, it’s hard to forgive them. We can be gracious and understanding when it happens once. But when someone hurts us several times, we determine we can’t forgive them again. Jesus understood how important forgiveness was. I’m sure He knew we would have many opportunities to forgive each other.

Matthew 18 covers many subjects that Jesus instructed His disciples on. They asked questions and He answered them. Peter asked in Matthew 18:21–22 (NLT) “ ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’ ‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven!’ ”

The Jews of that day taught you could forgive someone as many as three times for an offense, but after the fourth time, there was no forgiveness. Peter knew Jesus’ heart of compassion, so he doubled the number and added one. “Is seven times enough, Lord?” What did Jesus say? Seventy times seven, which equals 490 times.

Most people have difficulty forgiving one time. I’m sure your thoughts could be like Peter’s, “Why would we want to forgive seven times?” Jesus was saying it’s not about a number; it’s about forgiving. In the light of the enormous forgiveness that God gives us, how can we do anything but be just as forgiving?