House and Castle

Prayer of the Day:
Father God, I thank you for this Tuesday. I pray Lord, that you would be with me and guide me throughout my day. Be with my family as well. Protect them and watch over them. Let this day be a blessed day in You. In Jesus’ name, amen......

Devotional by Zach Fontaine
FRIDAY OCTOBER 25

YOU’VE GOT ENOUGH
“Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
Luke 17:4–5 (NLT)

Do you struggle to forgive because you think you first need more faith? Jesus’ disciples thought the same. Imagine their faces when Peter asked Jesus, “How often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” and Jesus replied, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven!” (See Matthew 18:21–22, NLT.) Seventy times seven equals 490. I’m sure the disciples almost fell over at this number. Forgive someone nearly five hundred times? Seems impossible, right? No wonder they thought they needed more faith!

As a quick side note, if you have to forgive the same person in your life 490 times a day, you might need to put some boundaries on that relationship.

I love Jesus’ response to the disciples, though. He didn’t say, “Yes, you’re going to need a truckload of faith to forgive people.” He said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it” (Luke 17:6, MSG).

Forgiveness can be hard, but doing it without faith would be impossible. However, your ability to forgive someone isn’t dependent on how much faith you have; you have all the faith you need. As Jesus pointed out, even a microscopic bit of faith put to work can achieve what seems impossible. What matters is your willingness to step out in faith and do it. Is there someone you need to forgive today?

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