‘How
Many Licks Does it Take….’
Matthew 18:21-22
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how
many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.
In 1969
the Tootsie Roll Company rolled out a new add campaign to promote their
lollipop. In the commercial a young boy goes around asking talking animals ‘How
many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?’ Each animal
defers to the next one saying that they don’t know as they bite to the center
before getting there. The last animal he finally comes to is the owl as he is
told that the owl is the wisest of all animals. When he asks, the owl decides
to demonstrates, but before getting to the center he bites down and eats the
sucker giving the boy back the empty stick.
Isn’t
that how we look at forgiveness? We ask God “How many times do we forgive
before we see the center of your will and see the blessing and reconciliation?”
The
other night when I was at bible study, we were talking about the previous Sunday’s
sermon on ‘Forgiveness.’ As we were talking I could not help but think about
the Tootsie Roll Pop commercial from years ago. One thing we talked about was
how to effectively forgive someone who has offended us before it turns to
bitterness and hatred towards one.
So what
is involved? Well Christ tells Peter to forgive seventy times seven, but is
about the 490 times before you throw in the towel or that things change? No, in
fact it is even simpler than that. Forgiveness is about a life style change.
God desires for our heart to be transformed into loving others unconditionally.
Take a
look at the word ‘FORGIVE.’ It is made up of two separate words ‘FOR’ and ‘GIVE.’
The first word ‘FOR’ means ‘to go ahead
of another with purpose.’ The word ‘GIVE’ means ‘to freely transfer the possession of something to someone else.’
As I
look at the word ‘Forgive’ under this context I cannot help but think of
another verse that talks about renewing our minds. If we stay intentional in
the word, renewing our minds, how could forgiveness not work? In order to
forgive we must be willing to give something to someone with purpose going
ahead of bitterness taking root of our hearts. If we don’t we risk the
possibility of the root of bitterness taking control and destroying the very
beauty God created us for.
Living
in the south, and especially in Florida, you have the opportunity to
experiencing many different weeds as the climate and year round warmth gives
way to much growth. One such thing is crabgrass. It is one of the worst weeds
to get rid of as it takes root in the center of the lawn, seeds other patches
and kills the grass. When you try to pull it out you realize it has runners
that go under the grass like a hidden electrical cord and it becomes
frustrating to eradicate your lawn from.
Much
like the crabgrass is unforgiveness. If we don’t try to get rid of it early we
risk it spreading seed into other areas and when we try to pull it out it is
attached to other things destroying the heart and person God meant for us to be
which requires some major reconstruction.
Although
forgiveness is for us, it is not meant for the healing process, rather for the
growing process. It is a daily thing and a continued communication between us
and God, as we cannot do it on our own.
What
many may not know about forgiveness is it is much like the Tootsie Roll Pop. You
may ask how? Well a group of engineering students from Purdue University
decided to do a test based on the human tongue and found something out. What
they found out is it took 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop.
That is nearly one for every day of the year! If we take that same concept and
apply it to our lives with forgiveness imagine what would be in the center as
God has planned. Too often though we get tired of giving that lick of
forgiveness and just want the center of God’s greatness so we manipulate and
bite down hoping we get there, but just like the owl from the commercial we end
up with the empty stick as we miss out on God’s best by bypassing the process.
So how
many licks does it take? How many times must you forgive to get to the center
of God’s will and see the best he has for you?
CAL
