Monday; August 19
One of the questions routinely asked in modern religion is, “If someone wrongs me, but doesn’t seek my forgiveness, do I have to forgive them?”. Most of us know of the need to forgive someone if asked to do so, but many struggle with pro-active forgiveness. The other day I came across a teaching of Jesus that seemed to shed a little light on the topic. While dealing with forgiveness Jesus taught, “ Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent’, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3). Honestly, folks, I could have gone all day without reading this because Jesus adjusts the spotlight of forgiveness to “me”. When someone harms me, I can’t just sit back and wait for them to do something about it, I have an obligation to do something – actually two things. First, I have an obligation to go to them and tell them that they offended me and second, I have a responsi