Luke 17:3-4 (KJV) Why Won’t They Forgive?

Luke 17:3-4 (KJV)
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 

Here is, I think, one of the chief reasons some people have trouble forgiving; they have not confronted the one who has offended them.

Rebuking an offending person never means to be angry or mean spirited. It doesn’t mean that we must start a fight with them. If they have offended us it will be of no use to offend them back.

But we do need to go to them. We need to kindly express our grievance. We need to give them opportunity:

• To see that they have offended us 
• To explain themselves (sometimes we have taken up our offense unjustly) and 
• To apologize if they are inclined to do so

Be warned. Sometimes they won’t reconcile. We need to have forgiven them in our hearts already so that, whether they reconcile or not, we have rid ourselves of the burden of the offense. This verse does not justify holding an offense unforgiven.

The person who is too weak to rebuke an offending party is very often the person who is too fleshly to forgive the same.

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Luke 17:3-4 (KJV) Why Won’t They Forgive?

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