Someone asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother.  The person suggested seven times as a reasonable and generous number.  Jesus told him he should forgive seventy times seven.  Jesus reckoned that he should dispense forgiveness four hundred and ninety times before the well of forgiveness ran dry.  When Jesus dealt with ordinary people, he cut them a great deal of slack.  He was never harsh with the weak and oppressed.  He recognized that most people are prisoners of their past, and more than anything else, they need love, liberation, and forgiveness.  Jesus scathingly denounced only one group of people.  They were the Pharisees.  These folks were specialists in always being right; they were the religious police.  They had a performance-oriented spirituality and were experts at loading heavy burdens on the backs of other people.  They never cut slack to anyone. 

Most people are doing the best they can with the resources they have.  I rarely meet a person who is bad to the bone.  Only a few people are hell-bent for destruction and make it their business to inflict misery on everyone they meet.  I can afford to cut a great deal of slack to everyone in my life.  They need all the help they can get, and so do I.  I will live as if I am a tolerant person.  I will cut slack to everyone in my life.

Excerpt from :

Maximum Strength Positive Thinking : What to Say When You Talk to Your Mind

David J Abbott M.D.