Friday, April 11, 2014

Lent Day 32: WIGIAT? 70

Each day during Lent I am updating my blog around the theme of WIGIAT? or Where is God in all this?

According to my blog profile, this update is my 70th post to my blog. This blog that I've started isn't the longest running one of all time, but it has been around a good 9 months or so. Before this current Lenten endeavor, I was updating my blog on a weekly basis pretty regularly. What I'm trying to say, is that before actually knowing the number of post I had, I would have guessed it was higher than 70.

In the book known as The Bible, and more specifically the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us that we should forgive those who sin against us not 7 times, not 70 times,  but 70 x 7. If someone has actually sinned against me in such a manner that I would take it personally and feel that I must be officially count a time of forgiveness against them, that would be a lot of times. In fact, when Jesus says that one must forgive 490 times, he's really saying that you must keep forgiving.

While Jesus tells us we must forgive, and keep on forgiving, he's not telling us that when people sin against us it doesn't matter. Jesus isn't calling us to be doormats. The fact of the matter is, is that God cares very much about our sin, and the ways we hurt each other and hurt creation. In Christ, God shows us this, as he was sent to free us from sin, both ours and the sin of others. You see, not only does Christ not sin, he also doesn't make room for the sin of others to infect him, change him, and make him violent and bitter. Instead, Jesus, through his righteousness, transforms those who he encounters, and through his grace gives them his life. And Jesus, keeps doing this, again, and again, and again, and again.

70 is a big number, and 70 x 7, is a lot bigger number. But how many more times have I heard in worship, from the saints who God has sent to me, and in the Word of God that God has lovingly forgiven me. When Jesus talks about how many times we are to forgive, we also remember how many more times we have been forgiven, and the ways it has transformed our lives. Just think how much someone else would be transformed, if we lovingly, through our own freedom and not co-dependency, forgave them only 490 times.

God is in the day to day love, that adds up to big things.

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