It’s been awhile since I’ve done a spiritual Sunday post. Actually I think it’s even been awhile since I talked about church or anything. That’s about to change – I’m going to start doing a weekly spiritual Sunday post.

I was recently asked “what have you learned from the Bible over the last week?”

I think that’s a great question! And I’m actually going to start using that question every week to base my Spiritual Sunday posts on. But here’s what I had to say:

I’ve learned a few different things this week but the one thing that seems to be most significant right now is forgiveness. It’s about a situation from years ago.

I thought I had forgiven the person, dealt with it and moved on but even after I said “I forgive you” I’ve still carried around hurt, anger and bitterness all this time.

The last several days during my quiet time with God He has continuously reminded me of Matthew 18:22 and how Jesus answered when Peter asked him about how many times he should forgive someone that sins against him (Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times).

I learned that sometimes forgiveness takes more than one time and that if I have to continually forgive over and over the same person for a certain situation then I need to do it. And also that just because I forgive doesn’t mean I will forget, it just means that I’ve given it to God and it’s in His hands to deal with.

When I first became a Christian back in 2001 I thought that forgiveness was going to come so easy…boy was I wrong! It’s not easy to forgive someone that has hurt or betrayed you. And as I’ve learned over the last few days during my quiet time with God – forgiveness is something that a one time “I forgive you” might not be enough.

The verse I referenced was Matthew 18:22. But to get the full ‘feel’ of that verse you need to read Matthew 18:21. The verses, from the NIV (New International Version) version of the Bible read like this:

(21)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?”  (22)Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

I certainly hope that I don’t have to forgive this person for this situation 77 times lol but if I have to and that’s what it takes then I’ll do it.

So how about you – what have you learned from the Bible this week?