Forgiving

"If you have faith as a mustard see, you can
say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by
the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it
would obey you."
Luke 17:6

Earlier Jesus had been talking about offenses
and how to deal with them:

"Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins
against you, rebuke him: and if he repents,
forgive him.
And if he sins against you seven times in a
day and seven times in a day returns to you,
saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."
Luke 17:3-4

When Jesus said to rebuke, it wasn't that He
allows us to act mean or nasty or
self-satisfied.
Jesus wasn't talking about telling them off.
We must always be careful to do it in love,
seeking the good of the other person.

If someone offends us and comes back and
apologizes, we should let it go.
We are suppose to do that seven times in one
day if it happens.
It is meant for our good,
not for the offenders.

Even if they don't ask for forgiveness.
"Whenever you stand praying, if you have
anything against anyone, forgive him, that
your Father in heaven may also forgive you
your trespasses"
Mark 11:25
No repentence mentioned here.

When Jesus told the disciples to forgive their
brother seven times, they suddenly became
aware of a great lack in themselves
particularly in their faith.
They asked Jesus to increase their faith in
Luke 17:5. They figured if they were going to
have to offer this kind of forgiveness, they
were going to have need of more faith.

Like everything in the Christian life,
forgiveness is a matter of faith.
It takes faith to trust God to do what is asks
us to do.

Jesus began talking to them about the
mustard see and mulberry trees.
Faith is like a mustard seed and like a
mustard seed, it must be planted to do
any good.
The size of the seed isn't important.
What we do with it is.

We plant the seed of faith by reading and
hearing the Word of God, over and over
and by what we say over and over.

Same with forgiveness.
We forgive by faith, by praying it, believing it
and by saying it.
We can't go by our feelings, our thoughts or
or by what has happened.

As we take our stand in faith and forgive, we
will eventually find that the offense has been
uprooted from our lives.
We are no longer chained to it,
it has been released by faith.
Now we are free to move on in our lives.