The Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:21-35)
Peter asked Jesus a question one day: "How many times do I have to forgive someone, Jesus?" Jesus answered by telling him a story.
There was a man who owed the king a great deal of money, like the huge pile of gold coins above. He didn't have the money to give the king, and he begged him to have mercy on him, to give him time to repay him. He asked him to let him repay him little by little until it was all paid back. The king felt sorry for the man, and decided that he would forgive the debt - this meant that the man didn't have to repay it at all! The man could hardly believe it! He walked out of the king's palace as a free man!
But then he spotted a man who owed him a little amount of money. Suddenly, all he could think of was wanting that man to pay him back! The man begged him to give him some time, that he would repay him little by little until it was all paid back. But the first man wouldn't hear of it - he demanded that the man be arrested and thrown into jail.
When the king heard about this, he was furious! He had the first man brought to him. "I forgave you the HUGE debt that you owed me, but you would not forgive this other man the little bit he owed you. You are an ungrateful, unforgiving man. Now YOU will work for me in jail until you have repaid all that you owe me!"
Jesus' message to Peter was clear: You want God to forgive you for the wrong things that you have done. God will forgive you because you believe in Me. But My Father expects you to forgive other people for the wrong things that they do."
Is there someone that you need to forgive? You don't need to wait for them to say that they are sorry - you can forgive them today.
(the link to the full post is: http://elizabethtreger.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-18.html)
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