As a result, we live in perpetual debt. Some Americans have more debt than they can ever repay in their lifetimes. Many just keep cycling the debt over and over by refinancing their houses, buying new cars with negative equity in their old ones and vacationing beyond their means, or whatever. Even those not given to finacing their wants may find themselves buried in debt due to tragedy, law suit or medical costs.
But just imagine your debtors called to say that all your debt was forgiven, you are now completely free and clear of everything you owe. What would be your reaction to being forgiven your debt?
In Luke 18, we read about a man who owed 100 lifetimes of debt to his master - a debt he could never repay. [26] “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ [27] The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go."
His reaction to being freed from debt was to demand repayment of a 100 day debt from another servant and having him thrown into prison for not being able to pay right away. He reacted to forgiveness with an unforgiving heart toward others.
Amazing that he would be so dismissive of the fact that he had been forgiven so much and yet he refused to forgive so little? Not really, it is more average than amazing. God forgives us for every sin we've ever committed and ever will by his grace and yet we so often refuse to forgive the few or even single sin someone else has committed against us. Now that is amazing! Amazingly ungrateful.
No one's debt of sin against us even begins to compare in the slightest degree to the debt of sin our Master has forgiven. Can we not forgive the lesser as we've been forgiven the greater? And, if we don't, what then? Read Matthew 18 and see the Master's reaction to the refusal of the one servant to forgive the debt of another. You will find reason to forgive others. Jus' Sayn.
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