Scripture: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.* Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV). Numbers often take on new meaning in the Bible. Seven is a number of perfection in the Bible.
Now, So all of you guys are back in school, right? How many of you are happy about that?
(Showing only the pencil with the eraser) You all recognize this, don't you? It's a pencil. What can you do with a pencil? (wait for answers)
When you're writing or drawing and you make a mistake, what do you do then? That's right, you use the eraser on the other end of the pencil. God's forgiveness is a lot like this eraser. We all make mistakes, and God is always ready to forgive us, if we ask. And just like this eraser removes the mistakes we make with a pencil, God's forgiveness can remove our sin when we do something wrong.
But you know, I make a lot of mistakes. So look at this pencil (showing them the eraser-less pencil). What do I do if this is the only pencil I have? I can't erase my mistakes any more. I'm going to have to live with them. I have to have an eraser. In fact can you imagine if you had to live life without an eraser? What if teachers didn’t allow them?
A bigger questions is this: what if God didn’t allow them? God's not like that at all. God's forgiveness is not like that at all. When we do something wrong, we can ask God to forgive us and because of Jesus, He will erase our mistakes and we can start over again, and again, and again. Unlike these pencils, God's eraser never wears out!
Just as God forgives us over and over again. Jesus taught us that we should forgive other people over and over again.
Dear Lord, thank you for forgiving us . . . and forgiving us . . . and forgiving us . . .and forgiving us again. Jesus, help us to remember that we all make mistakes and that if we will ask you to forgive us, you will erase those mistakes and make us clean again.
