We all want to be forgiven, but are we forgiving others with the same mercy and grace that God shows us?
“In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. ‘This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.'” (Matthew 18:34-35)
These are some heavy verses to digest. For those of us who often see God as the loving Father, hearing about His divine punishment can be a shock to our systems. But while God does love us, He will also be there to judge us in the final days.
Let’s take a moment to think about this parable. Jesus told it to His disciples when they asked about how many times they should forgive someone. Jesus answered with this story.
A servant is brought to his master to pay his debts. Because he can’t, he begs for mercy. The master relents and forgives the debt. The servant turns around and asks for the payment of a debt owed him by another man, one of less value than his own recently-forgiven debt. The man can’t pay.
So the servant punishes the unpaying man. The master, upon hearing of this, calls his servant back in and punishes him harshly. The point of the story is that if we cannot earnestly forgive others, then we cannot partake in the forgiveness God has offered to us.
Thinking on this, how does this parable make you feel? Do you find the punishment overly harsh? Does it make you think about how important forgiveness is, not just from God but to our fellow man? Or did you start thinking about who you haven’t forgiven yet?
Forgiving others is how we repay the gift of forgiveness given by God
For many years, I held a secret grudge in my heart. I was angry at someone for betraying me. And even though I had outwardly moved on, I still held anger, resentment, and bad feelings in my heart for them.
I can look back at that time and remember how justified I felt. They had wronged me. I was the innocent party. Why should they be let off the hook? But over time, I realized that the only one on a hook was me. I was stuck in this hard-hearted state. My relationship with this person was frozen because I could not forgive and move on.
My relationship with God suffered because we can’t be close to Him when we are mired in sin. And unforgiveness is a sin.
We must forgive each other with the same grace and mercy that God has shown us. He sent His Son to die on the cross in order that our sins can be forgiven. Not one, or ten, but all our sins. How can we not forgive the one sin committed against us by someone when our entire life has been wiped clean?
We can never repay God for what He has gifted us – eternal life – but we can show our gratitude by forgiving those around us. At the end of our lives, won’t it be better to face God with an empty slate than one full of regrets for our lack of compassion and grace?
Show God’s love to others by forgiving them as we, too, have been forgiven.
Have a blessed Monday!
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Rebecca, thank you for your reminder to forgive to have had to learn to forgive. We can feel so justified in our forgiveness but we are so free when we do forgive.
Thank you, Deborah!