Learning on the Way
Peter’s cultural context influenced the way he understood forgiveness. What are some ways our cultural context influences how we view forgiveness, how we seek forgiveness, and how we forgive others.
What normally prevents you from forgiving others as God has forgiven you? Talk about the wickedness of the failure to do so? Where do you see this wickedness show up in other places in your life? What can you do to change it?
“Mercy experienced will produce mercy demonstrated.” If people judged your Christianity by the way you treat others, would they say you are a true Christian? Why or why not? What are some ways you demonstrate the mercy you have received?
Do you recall what the “key to forgiveness” is (focusing on what Jesus has done for us instead of what others have done to us)? Talk about how that informs the way you treat others, even people outside of Christianity or people who mistreat you. Talk about ways you fail in this and ways you succeed, by God’s grace.