Remember the Bible story in which Jesus' disciple Peter came to him asking how many times he must forgive someone who had sinned against him? "Till seven times?" Peter asked. There is no way of knowing why Peter asked this question. But aren't there times when we might have asked a similar one?
"I say not unto thee, Until seven times," Jesus answered, "but, Until seventy times seven." Matt. 18:21, 22. Not understanding the answer, we might droop in disbelief and amazement. Seventy times seven? Is that fair?
It was never Christ Jesus' purpose to burden people; on the contrary, his purpose was to free them from their burdens. In the Bible, the number seven often stands symbolically for wholeness, completeness, or perfection. Couldn't "seventy times seven" mean that we are to forgive and love without numbering or counting? To love without keeping score? To love without limits?
