FREEDOM FROM BITTERNESS (Parts 71-80)

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 71: NOTE THIS PART (4/19/22)

Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt 6:9-15).

Here is the Lord’s Prayer. It is probably prayed or spoken by at least a billion people a week.

After Jesus taught this prayer, He circled back and focused on one part of it. It wasn’t the part at the end of the prayer so it wasn’t like He just added an afterthought.

No, Jesus’ focus on forgiveness was intentional because the forgiveness is so important. Jesus is saying “You really need to get this part. Forgiveness is important because forgiveness has consequences and unforgiveness has consequences.” There is power in forgiveness.

One power of forgiveness is to stop the destructive impact of bitterness. An offense that leads to bitterness cannot be undone. But it can be forgiven.

We have already explored how bitterness destroys relationship. But another power of forgiveness is to keep the relationship intact or to restore the relationship if it has been broken.

So the next time you say the Lord’s Prayer, remember Jesus’ emphasis on forgiveness. Commit to apply the words you speak about forgiveness. Ask the Holy Spirit for help in walking in forgiveness in your life, and in experiencing the power of forgiveness in doing it.

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: God’s ways

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 72:

GOD’S WAYS (4/22/22)

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:6-9).

Part of a devotion on forgiveness from Pastor Daniel Martin:

Difficult time getting over something said that hurt/wounded. I know what I have to do, but having a very hard time doing it. I guess it comes down to how much do I want to have a good hour with You, how much I value the relationship I have with You. This becomes a no-brainer when I put it in these terms—these are the terms they must be put in!

OK, Father, I choose to forgive. Empower me to do it, help me to know how to really do it, to let go of the hurt/wound, bless the offender, get over it. HELP ME TO SEEK TO HONOR YOU IN EVERY AREA WHERE I THINK I HAVE BEEN WRONGED—BY FORGIVING, TRULY FORGIVING!!

I must find my life, acceptance, love, and delight in You—not in anyone else, because ultimately, only You are the perfect One, only You can be what You say You will be at all times. All others will fail and in their failures will hurt and wound those around them.

I now choose to let go of the record of the wrong, to let the person go and tell myself that they owe me nothing, that I will to the best of my ability with God’s help love them, bless them, be kind to them, not rejoice in negatives, not feel like a martyr, not have a pity party, do what love does for them, etc. Help me, Lord.

O the glory and life that flow where forgiveness flows, where I am so aware of how much I have been forgiven, that I easily and readily forgive.

I have lived with this unforgiveness for most of this day (Sunday), and it has dragged me down. I need to be free. I am free as I now forgive. I thank You that I can rise and be what You call for me to be in this. –Pastor Daniel Martin, 3/17/14

God tells us that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. That is true in every facet. I often hear this verse quoted. But the context of this passage from Isaiah is noteworthy. Immediately before this statement about God’s ways are the words “He will abundantly pardon.”

Perhaps nothing distinguishes God more than His willingness to forgive even the vilest creep. Forgiveness is necessary to restore relationship. So what does a perfect God Who desires relationship do? He forgives. What glory is here!

When we forgive, we honor God by following His example and His word. And when we fail to forgive, we dishonor Him because we reject His nature.

Forgiveness flows straight from the heart of God. His ways are higher than our ways!

[Devotion from Surrender and Trust – Book Two, Section III, Week Eleven (Power of Forgiveness), Day 1]

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: The power of forgiveness

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 73: THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS (4/24/22)

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution (Acts 7:54-8:1a).

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

This story is about Stephen, the first martyr of the church. But this story is also about Saul, the persecutor of the church who would become Paul, the great apostle.

Forgiveness is a release from death – the legal consequence of sin. It is a release from guilt, bitterness, and shame. 

Forgiveness also brings freedom. It releases the power of creativity and beauty. Maybe most importantly, forgiveness releases me to be the person that God called me to be – to walk in my true identity. Forgiveness is powerful.

Stephen was not bound to seek forgiveness for his murderers. Nothing required him to follow the example of our Lord on the cross and to release them. But he did.

Think of the power of Stephen’s forgiveness in the life of Saul, who became Paul the apostle. I believe that the statement of forgiveness by Stephen released the power of the cross into Saul’s life. Stephen’s release allowed a work of grace in Saul’s heart.

Forgiveness paved the path for Saul to fulfill his call in the Lord. He became Paul, the great apostle of the kingdom of God. But his trespass was released by the forgiveness of Stephen.

[Devotion from Surrender and Trust – Book Two, Section III, Week Eleven (Power of Forgiveness), Day 3 which can be found under the BOOKS tab above]

Next post: Walking in freedom – bitterness: The power of forgiveness

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 74: THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS (4/26/22)

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

“And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

“He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.

“So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart" (Mt 18:21-35).

Help me to be a “quick forgiver.” Help me to decide at the beginning of the day not to take on the heavy loads that always come from unforgiveness. What horrible loads those are.

You call them TORMENTS—and that is exactly what they are! There is so much torment that comes from unforgiveness. The tormentor is the devil and his demons. They are empowered to bring that torment (and they always do) when I fail to forgive as I have been forgiven! (This is the truth of Matthew 18.)

O show me Your ways!! Help me to walk in Your paths of righteousness in this area of my life!!      –Pastor Daniel Martin, 9/11/12

Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18 is about forgiveness. But it also is about imprisonment and bondage and about torments.

When I hold onto an offense and don’t forgive another person, I believe I have something on them. In my anger, I hold it “over their head” as a means to retaliate. I feel empowered. Because I have not released the sin, I believe I have kept them in bondage.

But Jesus’ parable illustrates that my unforgiveness puts ME in prison! Not only have I allowed bitterness and contempt to enter my own soul, but I have damaged my relationship with my King. I put myself in torment. As those devices of the enemy continue to fester, they place me in great danger of unforgiveness from my heavenly Father.

Meditation: Reflect on the impact of unforgiveness. Search your heart for any areas of bitterness, offense, or unforgiveness. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. For each area that He reveals to you, ask Him for help in letting it go or in addressing it. Ask Him to help you walk in forgiveness in all areas of your life.

[Devotion from Surrender and Trust – Book Two, Section III, Week Eleven (Power of Forgiveness), Day 2]

Next post: Walking in freedom – bitterness: The danger zone

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 75: IMPACTS OF FORGIVENESS (4/29/22)

“And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart" (Mt 18:34-35)

This warning by Jesus is not isolated. Multiple times He warns us that our unforgiveness not only hurts people around us, but it has a destructive impact on us as well. This warning sounds punitive. “God punishes me because I don’t obey Him.” On the contrary, God, Who is a good God, always instructs us for our own benefit.

When I walk in unforgiveness, I minister death instead of life.

When I walk in unforgiveness, I hurt rather than heal.

When I walk in unforgiveness, I live in the darkness of bitterness.

Like bitterness, unforgiveness closes down joy in the heart. It blocks the flow of the Holy Spirit and renders spiritual gifts ineffective. I believe that unforgiveness clogs the pipeline of forgiveness. It shuts down your heart in such a way that you cannot receive forgiveness for your own trespasses.

An article in Atlantic magazine says there’s a sizable and immediate mental-health boost for forgiving people. [F]orgiving people are markedly physically healthier than unforgiving ones. A 2005 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found that participants who considered themselves more forgiving had better health across five measures: physical symptoms, the number of medications used, sleep quality, fatigue, and medical complaints. The study authors found that this was because the process of forgiveness tamped down negative emotions and stress.

“The victim relinquishes ideas of revenge, and feels less hostile, angry, or upset about the experience,” the authors wrote.

When someone holds a grudge, their body courses with high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. When cortisol surges at chronically high levels for long periods of time, Everett Worthington says, it can reduce brain size, sex drive, and digestive ability.

Perhaps most surprisingly, though, forgiveness can also help with things that have nothing to do with physical or mental health. In a study recently published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, 46 participants were divided into two groups: One set were asked to write about a time when someone wronged them and they forgave the person, and the other group was asked about a time when they did not forgive the offender. Afterward, all of the subjects were led outside to gaze upon a large hill. The “unforgiving” group thought the hill was about 5 degrees steeper than the forgiving group did. Then, all the participants were asked to jump up and down. The forgiving group jumped seven centimeters HIGHER, on average.

The experiments showed how a grudge can weigh a person down—literally—says Ryan Fehr, an assistant professor of management at the University of Washington and an author of the study. “If you’re primed with having a heavy burden, it makes you feel heavy,” he said. “The metaphor becomes real life.” (Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/the-forgiveness-boost/384796/)

God offers us the flow of His Holy Spirit – the rivers of living water. He desires that the Holy Spirit live in us, and flow through us, in a way that generates life, peace, and joy.

God also offers us freedom in Him. Jesus makes it clear that a spirit of forgiveness is essential for our freedom and for life, peace, and joy in Him.

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: Love your neighbor means…

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 76: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR MEANS… (5/1/22)

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD (Lev 19:18).

Following the tragic Amish school shooting of 10 young schoolgirls in a one-room Amish school in October 2006, reporters from throughout the world invaded Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. However, in the hours and days following the shooting a different, an unexpected story developed.

In the midst of their grief over this shocking loss, the Amish community didn’t cast blame, they didn’t point fingers, they didn’t hold a press conference with attorneys at their sides. Instead, they reached out with grace and compassion toward the killer’s family.

The afternoon of the shooting an Amish grandfather of one of the girls who was killed expressed forgiveness toward the killer, Charles Roberts. That same day Amish neighbors visited the Roberts family to comfort them in their sorrow and pain.

Later that week the Roberts family was invited to the funeral of one of the Amish girls who had been killed. And Amish mourners outnumbered the non-Amish at Charles Roberts’ funeral.

It’s ironic that the killer was tormented for nine years by the pre-mature death of his young daughter. He never forgave God for her death. Yet, after he cold-bloodedly shot 10 innocent Amish school girls, the Amish almost immediately forgave him and showed compassion toward his family.

In a world at war and in a society that often points fingers and blames others, this reaction was unheard of. Many reporters and interested followers of the story asked, “How could they forgive such a terrible, unprovoked act of violence against innocent lives?”

The Amish culture closely follows the teachings of Jesus, who taught his followers to forgive one another, to place the needs of others before themselves, and to rest in the knowledge that God is still in control and can bring good out of any situation. Love and compassion toward others is to be life’s theme. (From www.lancasterpa.com)

Lev. 19:18 exhorts us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That is known as the “golden rule.” But as part of that theme, the verse also warns not to “take revenge or bear a grudge.” Forgiveness is part of loving your neighbor. So forgiveness is part of the “golden rule” as well.

The Amish shooting was horrific and tragic. But the Amish families, in their grief, loved their neighbor – the family of the killer. They practiced forgiveness because “I am the LORD.” He is the God who administers judgment and justice. He is also the God of compassion, lovingkindness, and mercy.

He is the God Who forgives.

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: “No room for hating”

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 77:

OPPRESSION (5/6/22)

From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight (Psa 72:14).

Nelson Mandela’s name is synonymous to forgiveness. He will be remembered to have lived and died, loving and forgiving. Mandela said that “Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.” It is forgiveness towards his nation’s wrongdoers that he used as a weapon against the apartheid regime, and which enabled transformation of relationships, positive change and peace in his beloved country, South Africa.

Nelson Mandela was a former African National Congress (ANC) leader and South African President that passed on December 5, 2013. In 1964, before he was sentenced for inciting workers strike and leaving the country illegally, he said “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” In 1969, while Mandela was in prison, he wrote “The threat of death evoked no desire in me to play the role of martyr. I was ready to do so if I had to. But the anxiety to live always lingered.” Mandela did not die in prison; he was freed after 27 years of incarceration. In an interview about a documentary on his life in 1996, he noted, “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.”

Mandela had actually accomplished beyond what his people had expected and the world will miss him dearly. Mandela’s life and vision will continue to be sources of inspiration for many generations to come. After being offered a deal to end his captivity, in a letter to his daughter in 1985, he said “I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.” Mandela was prevented from attending the funeral of his mother and his son while he was in detention. Although he was bitter to have been denied the opportunity to say final farewell to the people that mattered so much to him, he said “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

Mandela was finally released from prison in 1991, and he rose to become the first black president of South Africa in 1994. He acknowledged that “It is a great tragedy to spend the best years of your life in prison. But if I had not been to prison, I would not have been able to achieve the most difficult task in life, and that is changing yourself. I had that opportunity because in prison we have what we don’t have in our life outside prison: the opportunity to sit down and think.” In a speech to mark the end of apartheid in 1995, a day tagged “Reconciliation Day” he asserted that “Reconciliation does not mean forgetting or trying to bury the pain of conflict, but that reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.” He further said that “Today we no longer vow mutual destruction, but solemnly acknowledge our interdependence as free and equal citizens of our common motherland. Today we reaffirm our solemn constitutional contract to live together on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”

Nelson Mandela faced the reality of leading those whom he had fought against for years. Instead of revenge and retribution for what the white South Africans had done to him and his people, he chose to forgive the apartheid regime and underlined that, “The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us.” Mandela was awarded numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his exemplary forgiveness lifestyle. (Facts and quotes from https://blogs.shu.edu/diplomacyresearch/2013/12/11/an-exemplar-of-forgiving-prisoner-nelson-mandela/)

God used Nelson Mandela to help a nation. The injustices and reprisals over many years could have ignited long term racial violence and even civil war.

But Mandela first embraced personal forgiveness in his life for the injustices done to him. He lived out a personal struggle to forgive. Then he proclaimed the same forgiveness to his people and to his nation.

What an amazing understanding of the justice of God! Mandela addressed and corrected laws and structures that were unfair and oppressive. But he also realized that forgiveness was necessary to heal and to build.

Many wrongs cannot be undone or recompensed. But forgiveness releases the Lord to work within the soul and to heal it. Forgiveness can heal and restore the souls of individuals. Forgiveness can also heal and restore the souls of cultures and of nations.

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: No room for hating

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 78: “NO ROOM FOR HATING” (5/8/22)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph 4:31-32).

On Saturday [in June of 2015], news broke that Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old charged with the murder of nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, had apparently published a lengthy manifesto on The Last Rhodesian, a website he registered in February, in which he described African Americans as genetically inferior to whites and defended legal segregation. The site, whose name refers to a former British colony governed by an apartheid regime, also contained images of Roof at plantations and in front of a Confederate museum in South Carolina—iconography of the state’s history of slavery. In the months before his attack, Roof reportedly spoke often of his hatred toward blacks and his desire to ignite a “race war” in the United States. The manifesto, a seething catalog of hatred encompassing Jews, blacks, and Hispanics, feels quite plausibly like the work of a killer who spared one person’s life reportedly so she could tell the world what he had done.

The manifesto showcases a character markedly different from those the world saw on Friday, when several relatives of the nine people slain inside Charleston’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church appeared in court and addressed Roof. The family members of the dead told Roof, a professed white supremacist, of their pain and anguish. But they also said they would forgive him.

“I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of one victim said. “We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive,” said the sister of another. “I pray God on your soul.”

Given the heinous nature of the crime, the willingness of Charleston’s survivors to forgive was remarkable—and earned particular praise from President Obama. But the act of forgiving is more than just an expression of grace toward a wrongdoer. It’s also an effective tool in helping individuals and communities touched by tragedy accelerate the healing process. (Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/06/dylann-roof-manifesto-forgiveness/396428/ )

The killings in Charleston were not just murders. They were racially motivated murders. In fact, the killer was trying to ignite a “race war.” But the race war did not happen.

In city after city in America, racially tinged shootings have ignited riots, reprisals, violence, and months of destruction. But the immediate reaction of Christians in Charleston, who lived their faith by expressing forgiveness rather than a desire for revenge or pay back, saved their city and community from further hatred, destruction, and violence.

Yes, the families experienced shock, pain, grief, and loss. But they did not dwell in the bitterness of hate.

“No room for hating.” These words sum up the power of forgiveness – a power that not only can save and restore individual relationships, but also can save and heal communities and cities – even those who experience the dark shadow of the worst forms of hate.

Next post: Walking in freedom – Bitterness: Oppression

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 79: CULTURAL BITTERNESS (5/10/22)

Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold" (Gen 4:23-24).

Seventy-sevenfold.

We read about Lamech in the Bible as a descendant of Cain. Cain, the first murderer, lived with bitterness, hatred, and revenge. This vignette about Lamech appears in the lineage of Cain. Lamech boasted to his women that he had killed 2 persons. He proclaimed that he would expand the revenge of Cain from sevenfold to seventy-sevenfold. By his own hand and decree, Lamech expanded the cycle of revenge generationally.

Cultures have cycles of dysfunction and bitterness. Violence, abuse, racism, addiction, and greed pervade many cities, nations, and tribes. These patterns are written into the history of a people as if they were etched in stone – just like the cycle of revenge attached itself to Cain and his descendants.

What can break such an awful cycle? When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother, Jesus didn’t just pick His answer out of thin air. Jesus gave Peter a number that had specific meaning – seventy and seven (Matt 18:21-22). That number must have seemed awful high to Peter. But…

A SEVENTY-SEVENFOLD CYCLE OF REVENGE IS BROKEN BY A SEVENTY AND SEVENFOLD CYCLE OF FORGIVENESS!

Forgiveness arises out of the goodness of God. Forgiveness is the key to breaking the patterns of dysfunction in my culture. Bitterness, dysfunction, and revenge are so ingrained in many cultures that a commitment to forgive over and over and over again is necessary to break those cycles in the culture.

But forgiveness must begin within the church which means that forgiveness must ultimately begin with you and with me.

Meditation: Identify cultural patterns of dysfunction that have impacted you. Write about them in your journal. Then consider how forgiveness can impact those patterns. Seek the Lord about forgiveness in your life and what forgiveness needs to occur regarding those dysfunctions.

[Devotion from Surrender and Trust – Book Two, Section III, Week Twelve (Goodness of God), Day 6]

Next post: Walking in freedom – bitterness: Generational healing

WALKING IN FREEDOM – BITTERNESS

PART 80: GENERATIONAL HEALING (5/13/22)

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,

the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God (Luke 3:23-38).

“Oh wow! The begats.” A genealogy may be the most boring format of scripture. I don’t know what you did when you saw this scripture, but when I hit a genealogy, my eyes glaze over and I speed read to the bottom.  

But genealogy is important in Jewish tradition. A genealogy contains heritage, emotion, and story. It also speaks to the patterns in a family – patterns of life and blessing, and patterns of dysfunction and wrongdoing.

In my last post, I pointed out that Jesus did not just pick the numbers seventy and seven out of the air when He taught Peter about forgiveness. Knowing the scripture, He directly referenced the “seventy-seven fold” cycle of revenge proclaimed by Lamech, the descendant of Cain.

So why the genealogy here? I didn’t include the genealogy so much to read as to count.

The number “77” does not appear often in scripture. But the generations listed from Adam to Jesus in this genealogy total…77. There were 77 generations of pain, injustice, oppression, and revenge.

But Jesus came to stop that pattern. He came to initiate something better – a new day. And in order to stop seventy-seven generations of dysfunction, Jesus instituted a seventy and sevenfold rule of forgiveness.

Next post: Walking in freedom – bitterness: Family heritage