Forgiveness only exists because God with His mercy, in His grace, has forgiven those who acknowledge Him. He has forgiven me.
I still don’t understand why God, through the apostles Matthew and Mark, chose to link our forgiving others with His forgiving us. I guess there are some things – as much as I hate to admit it – that we will not understand until we are in the presence of the Teacher.
The questions I ask myself are, “Do I have to understand what God is doing?” Simply, no. Followed by, “Do I have to understand what God is calling me to do?” Simply, yes. And what He is asking me to do is forgive others, unconditionally, because I know what it’s like to be unconditionally forgiven. When I forget how much dirt God has cleaned off my slate, I forget to forgive others and wipe their slates clean. There is a parable Jesus told His disciples that explains His position much better than I can [Matthew 18:25 – 35 (MESSAGE)]:
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 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 pleas 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.
Forgiveness. It is hard to do, especially if we try to do it by our own strength. However, we don’t need to do it on our own. We can draw strength from the mercy God has shown toward us. We can forgive others, by the power of the Holy Spirit, because God forgives us.
Our Pastor on Sunday talked about “The Biblical Process for Forgiving Others.” I’m still working on applying those steps into my life. Maybe I will revisit forgiveness at some time in the future, when I have it all figured out! Visit fowlervilleub.org to listen to Pastor Mark’s series on Forgiveness. It will be worth the time. (You can also download the notes and follow along with the message.)
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