A Story About Forgiveness
“The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
“The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
“The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’
“The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
“The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”
(The Holy Bible - The Message Version, The Book of Matthew, Chapter 18, Verses 21-35)
Today's "quote" is actually a parable. I couldn't pick just one or two sentences out of the story, it was too hard to try and do that and convey what I'm thinking about today.
While today's "quote" is about forgiveness, I think it is also about grace and that's where my thoughts have been this morning.
The servant in the story that ran up the debt with the King didn't understand forgiveness or grace. The King extended grace to him and what did he do with it? He didn't extend it to others, he hoarded it. He forgot it was extended to him almost immediately upon receiving it.
And isn't that what we do?
We've all had grace extended to us by someone that we messed up with. And we think we'll remember that grace was given to us but then we find ourselves accosting someone who committed a minor offense against us and there is no grace to be found. Or sometimes it isn't even offense where grace is needed. Sometimes it is where we are at in our life experiences, our growth in spiritual ways, our growth in maturity. Grace is extended to us as we grow but we hoard it and don't extend it to others. We forget that we are deep in debt, much more so than the person we've decided to accost.
Recently a friend of mine lost their job. Their boss chose not to extend the grace that they themselves have been shown multiple times. Extending grace means that we don't forget to switch shoes. HUH? It means we don't forget to put ourselves in their place and consider what might be going on in their world. It means we set them up for success not failure. A person who forgets that they have been gifted with grace sets other people up for failure not success. And this is what happened with my friend.
But look what happens. Eventually, in time, we are found out if we are hoarding grace. And when we are found out there are always consequences. In the situation I described above what's going to happen is the boss who hoarded grace is going to find themselves, someday, in a situation where they will be begging for grace and they will be reminded of the time(s) they hoarded it and didn't extend it and they will have to live with the consequences of that, whatever those might be. And it will be in that moment that they will have flashbacks of all the times they withheld grace and hopefully they will have remorse and seek to make things right.
I haven't "arrived" on this topic btw. My hope is that since it is on my mind, and heart, these days that I will be aware of when it happens in my own life. When I beg for grace, or even if I don't beg and freely receive it, and I get it may I not hoard it but extend it to others. (And when we extend it we need to do so in healthy ways - but that's a whole other blog! *grin*)
How about you? Does today's "quote" resonate with you? Does it bring to mind a situation in which you were the one receiving grace, accosting the one who needed grace, or perhaps you have realized you hoard grace?
At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”
Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.“The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
“The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
“The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’
“The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
“The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”
(The Holy Bible - The Message Version, The Book of Matthew, Chapter 18, Verses 21-35)
Today's "quote" is actually a parable. I couldn't pick just one or two sentences out of the story, it was too hard to try and do that and convey what I'm thinking about today.
While today's "quote" is about forgiveness, I think it is also about grace and that's where my thoughts have been this morning.
The servant in the story that ran up the debt with the King didn't understand forgiveness or grace. The King extended grace to him and what did he do with it? He didn't extend it to others, he hoarded it. He forgot it was extended to him almost immediately upon receiving it.
And isn't that what we do?
We've all had grace extended to us by someone that we messed up with. And we think we'll remember that grace was given to us but then we find ourselves accosting someone who committed a minor offense against us and there is no grace to be found. Or sometimes it isn't even offense where grace is needed. Sometimes it is where we are at in our life experiences, our growth in spiritual ways, our growth in maturity. Grace is extended to us as we grow but we hoard it and don't extend it to others. We forget that we are deep in debt, much more so than the person we've decided to accost.
Recently a friend of mine lost their job. Their boss chose not to extend the grace that they themselves have been shown multiple times. Extending grace means that we don't forget to switch shoes. HUH? It means we don't forget to put ourselves in their place and consider what might be going on in their world. It means we set them up for success not failure. A person who forgets that they have been gifted with grace sets other people up for failure not success. And this is what happened with my friend.
But look what happens. Eventually, in time, we are found out if we are hoarding grace. And when we are found out there are always consequences. In the situation I described above what's going to happen is the boss who hoarded grace is going to find themselves, someday, in a situation where they will be begging for grace and they will be reminded of the time(s) they hoarded it and didn't extend it and they will have to live with the consequences of that, whatever those might be. And it will be in that moment that they will have flashbacks of all the times they withheld grace and hopefully they will have remorse and seek to make things right.
I haven't "arrived" on this topic btw. My hope is that since it is on my mind, and heart, these days that I will be aware of when it happens in my own life. When I beg for grace, or even if I don't beg and freely receive it, and I get it may I not hoard it but extend it to others. (And when we extend it we need to do so in healthy ways - but that's a whole other blog! *grin*)
How about you? Does today's "quote" resonate with you? Does it bring to mind a situation in which you were the one receiving grace, accosting the one who needed grace, or perhaps you have realized you hoard grace?
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