The Wicked Servant

Mt. 35

So my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

 

Peter was having trouble understanding forgiveness. Since he wanted to know precisely how many times he must forgive, he offered the number 7 to Jesus. But Jesus replied with seventy times seven.  To clarify what this meant, Jesus told a story about the kingdom of heaven in which the King wished to settle accounts with His servants. When He came to the first servant who owed Him 10,000 talents, the servant fell on his knees begging for mercy since he was unable to pay. Out of pity for the man, the King released him and forgave the debt.

 

But when this same servant went to a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii, he seized him and began choking him. Even though the servant pleaded with him, he would not show mercy, and instead put him in prison until he could pay. When other servants saw this incident, they went to the master and reported the scenario. The Master summoned him saying, You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you. In anger the Master delivered him to prison until he should pay all his debt.

 

What a picture! How convicting! God forgave me a huge debt, a lifetime of sin. And what do I do in return? Am I like the wicked servant, or do I forgive the lesser debts that people owe me? I must forgive because he forgave me. Col. 3 says, Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and , if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. I have no option! No doubt when I am unforgiving, I am forgetting the great cost of my salvation, the sacrificial death that it took to make salvation mine, the great love of the Father to bridge the gulf between God and me, and the great agony that  Jesus had to endure when he was separated from His Father, a separation that was blackened with sin. I must consider these things constantly! Consider and change!

 

Father,

I confess I have not always been forgiving. Give me Your grace and strength to make this a reality in my life.

In Jesus name,

Amen