The Forgiveness Cycle - Week 3

Discipleship Pastor Jennifer Davis sits down with Pastor Mike Day and Associate Pastor Melissa Perry this week to continue The Forgiveness Cycle with a look at what's often the hardest part of all — forgiving others. Together they work through Matthew 18:15–35, where Jesus lays out what life together actually looks like in this new community of faith. The conversation starts with the posture we're called to bring into every relationship: the humility of a child, arms open rather than crossed, with the dignity of each person held in view. That posture changes everything when conflict comes — and conflict will come anytime more than one person is in the room.

Together they wrestle with the harder questions. What does it look like to actually go to a brother or sister in private, without rehashing the hurt to three other friends first? Melissa shares a picture from her own family — her son calling it "broken hands" when something's come between them — and the way reconciliation begins long before the conversation does, with prayer and a heart already softened toward the other person. Mike addresses the question many of us are afraid to ask out loud: does forgiving someone mean the relationship has to be restored to what it was? The Greek word for forgiveness means releasing — letting go of the bitterness that would otherwise destroy us — and that's not the same as pretending nothing happened. 

If you missed the sermon, watch here.