Forgiveness Has No Number

"Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?'"
Matthew 18:21

In Matthew 18* we find the parable of the unforgiving servant. Such a parable has a magnanimous force of application to our lives.
Man, being a practical creature, puts a number on forgiveness. Peter asks if he should forgive his brother UP TO seven times. Jesus responds,

"I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Though Jesus uses a number to explain to Peter just how much he should forgive, we should not take it to mean that that is the exact number of times we are to forgive; for if it were, we would be terrible Christians. Why? Because God has forgiven us more than seventy times seven. God has forgiven us seventy times a million, and that number times seventy, times trillion. And more. God has forgiven us an infinite amount, and so we should forgive our fellow man the same amount. We have sinned against holy God. God is the Author and Creator of life, and He is pure. No evil can be found in God. But evil is found in us. Day after day after day.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made."

We are the servant who could not pay his master the ten talents. We could not be holy before God, the price necessary for membership in His kingdom. We were in debt to God.

"The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt."

God loved us. So God provided a way for our debt to be paid--the righteousness of Jesus meeting the holy requirement, and the death of Jesus providing for us our official death to sin--so that we could be holy and blameless. Our debt has been forgiven.

"But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him."

We could not forgive our fellow man enough. God forgave us EVERYTHING. So now we must endure patiently with others and not hold grudges against one another. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. The consequence of not forgiving is a promise from God:
He will do to each one of us what was done to the unforgiving servant if each one of us does not forgive others from their heart.

"Put on tender mercies." Colossians 3:12

*all scripture quoted in this post is from the New King James Version of the Bible.