August 31, 2026
Monday, August 31
When I was a teenager, my aunt Retta had her first daughter, Amanda. I remember one day when the two of them were at my grandparent’s house. Amanda was a toddler, and on this particular day, she was acting like, well, a toddler. Retta was not having it, and little Amanda was crying as result. My Grandma interrupted them, scooped Amanda up in a big hug and said, “Oh, you poor thing.” My aunt Retta shook her head and said, “Yep, this is how it starts.”
Afterward, my Mom explained something to me, “You grandparents aren’t the same people who raised me. They treated me, Retta, and your uncle Tim very differently than they treat you and the other grandkids.” When I grew up, I realized it wasn’t just my grandparents. It was everyone’s. The old rules didn’t apply at Grandma’s house. If you ate a bunch of cookies before supper, you got away with it. If you didn’t want to take a nap, she let you watch TV instead. If you broke something, she hid all the breakable stuff from then on, but she didn’t spank you for it. It’s as if she took off her Mom eyes and put on Grandma eyes when you were born. She saw only good in you.
Today, I’m beginning a series about forgiveness. So many Christians struggle with the very idea of forgiveness. They think forgiving someone is like putting on Grandma eyes. Because of this, many Christians refuse to forgive people who have hurt them. They say, “I am too angry. I’m not ready to forgive…”
…Or, “They haven’t apologized. They aren’t even sorry about what they did.”
…Or, “If I forgive them, there will be no justice, and they’ll go on hurting me and others.”
What they’re really saying is, “I refuse to look at them through Grandma eyes. I see them for who they are, and I can’t forgive that.”
Other Christians struggle to accept God’s forgiveness for their own sins. Or they say, “I believe God has forgiven me, because His Word says so. I just can’t forgive myself.” What they’re saying is, “What I’ve done is way worse than anything I did at Grandma’s house. Even she wouldn’t overlook this.”
We’ll explore all these issues and more in this series, but this week we’ll start by defining forgiveness the way Jesus did. In Matthew 18:21-22, we read the following:
21 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?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
This is a famous story, but people miss the point when they make it about math. Jesus wasn’t putting a numerical limit on forgiveness. Instead, He was almost certainly referencing the story of Lamech in Genesis 4:23-24. Few Christians know that story today, but someone like Peter would have known it very well. Lamech was a direct descendant of Cain. He bragged to his two wives about how he didn’t allow anyone to insult him, but would kill anyone who disrespected him. He said, “If God avenged Cain seven times, I avenge myself seventy-seven times.”
The number “seventy-seven” is what would have reminded Peter of this story. Jesus is telling Peter, “Men like Lamech are the reason the world is the way it is today. In the Kingdom of God, we’re the opposite. The Lamechs of this world never put a limit on their vengeance; We never put a limit on our forgiveness.”
“Lord, as I learn about forgiveness through this series, I want to state from the beginning my intention to forgive without limits. I know I’m not there yet, but I pray by your grace I will be. In your name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
