On Forgiveness

Forgiveness is such a prickly topic. There are those who I love forgiving; tender, sensitive, broken souls who genuinely repent of a wrong I hardly felt. There are those ones who are so broken by their own sinfulness, I love stepping into their lives with the good news of God's grace.
Then, there are the other ones; who just don't get it, who are habitual, addictive, repeat offenders of the same thing. How much is too much? When do we have the right, if not the responsibility to cut our losses and move on without them? 3 times is enough said the rabbinic scholars of Jesus' day. Peter proposed 7 times, double plus one, for a truly christian approach to forgiveness. But Jesus said 77 times is a good beginning point. Why 77? To bookend and counter the 77 generation curse of Lamech on anyone who messed with his family in Genesis 4:24. 77! That's way too many times for me to keep track of anything. Which is exactly the point with Jesus. Stop keeping track and monitoring your lists, and just forgive; wantonly, extravagently, unendingly.