The phrase ‘In step’ means  to conform. This could be conforming to a pattern, a way of life, a method, etc. It means following another.

In Romans chapter 8, we were told that way in advance,  God already chose that His people would be conformed to the image of His son(Romans 8:29) .
An example of this is a head architect/builder designing and building a house and then giving the blueprint to other architects and builders to enable them to replicate it.

Jesus has already come and walked the walk of victory, and now, all you and I have to do is to walk in His steps to get the kind of results He got. There are so many examples that Jesus showed us while physically on earth, and as we follow, we see and experience His glory here on earth.

For the purpose of today’s blog, I shall be talking about the heart of forgiveness and to talk about forgiveness,  I would like to quote  Alexander Pope  ” To err is human to forgive divine.”

Human nature is bound to err and  make mistakes, which is unavoidable. To live with people, be surrounded by people, work with people, and expect not to be wronged is the most naive state a person can be in.

People will step on your toes from time to time, whether intentionally or not, but the onus is on you, forgive, and let go. Now, before you say to me, “you don’t know what they have done”, let me answer by saying, no, I don’t and I may never know but remember whose steps we are following and let’s look at some of the ways he dealt with the issue of forgiveness.

Jesus on the cross is one of the most significant displays of forgiveness ever in any history.

How do you pray for forgiveness for the people who brought what could be considered as one of the greatest pains of your life? Jesus prayed in Luke 23:34, saying :

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

Why did Jesus forgive them, and more importantly,  why did Jesus pray that prayer of forgiveness aloud for even the people to hear ?

There are obviously two aspects to this. The first one being that Jesus forgave those we may consider unforgivable, people who just wanted to see him suffer, who may have been jealous of his ministry for those  years and felt like this was their chance to quench whatever was going on.

People who were not even sorry for what they had done as that verse shows us that soon after Jesus made that prayer, the people were more interested in dividing his cloths amongst themselves. The second obvious thing here is that Jesus prayed the prayer of forgiveness aloud for everyone to hear.

Imagine if he hadn’t done that, the amount of speculation that would have gone on. Not a lot of people would have believed that Jesus could forgive those people.  So, inspite of doing it from his heart ,Jesus was showing us as well how it is done, that to forgive,  you don’t wait for forgiveness to be asked of you, you don’t even wait for the person to be remorse, you just go ahead to forgive because forgiveness is from God.

It is His ability and grace in us that gives us the strength to forgive, and this ability and grace is already in every human.
This leads to the next question relating to forgiveness,  how many times can I forgive the same person?

The human response to this automatically places a limit. Some people have a bit more grace than others, so if a number is  mentioned,  one person’s number  may differ from another, but here is Jesus’ response

“Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV

There is no limit to the amount of time you forgive someone. You forgive when the occasion presents itself, and now does that mean you put yourself in harms way? of course not.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 10 says:

Remember: The duller the ax, the harder the work; use your head: The more brains, the less muscle.
Ecclesiastes 10: 10MSG

Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 NLT

Be wise and remove yourself as much as possible from situations and people who will hurt you and make it their mission to see you offended. If the situation is avoidable,  then my all means avoid it, but if not, then be prepared to look at the people or situation through the eyes of God,  knowing that you were also once forgiven.

Every blessing

Kingdom