Secrets of the Kingdom: Calls Us to Forgive Everyone


"Don't get mad, get even!"  How many times have you heard that?  Oftentimes our anger rises when someone wrongs us, especially when it's intentional.  That anger compels us to strike back, to get even.

This was on Simon Peter's mind when in Matthew 18:21ff he asked Jesus how many times he was to forgive his brother.  He thought he was doing well when he suggested seven times.  Religious teachers of the day said he was to forgive three times.  Peter doubled that and added one!  Surely that was enough!

Jesus replied, "I tell you, not seven times but seventy times seven!"  His forgiveness was to be limitless!

Then Jesus told a parable about the kingdom to show why.  A king settling accounts with his servants learns that one owes him a huge amount of money.  When he tells the servant he's going to sell him and his family into slavery to pay his debt, his servant pleas for time to pay him back.  In a stunning moment of grace, the king forgives him of his debt.

Then the servant goes out, finds a fellow servant who owes him a relatively small amount of money, seizes him, chokes him, and demands that he pay him back.  His fellow servant pleads for more time, but he throws him into prison.

Fellow servants who saw this were horrified and reported it to the king.  The king has the servant hauled before him again and says he's doing to give him to prison and torture until he pays back his debt.  The reason: he didn't forgive his fellow servant.  

Jesus says this is how the Father will treat those who don't forgive others.

It doesn't take a great Bible scholar to figure this one out!  The king is God and the servant is us.  Whenever we have a hard time forgiving someone, we should remember how much forgiveness we've received!  The debt others owe us is trivial compared to the debt we owe the Father.

Remember the forgiveness you've received and forgive others from your heart!

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