Matthew 18:21-35

What has God forgiven us for through his precious son, Jesus?

There is no amount of words that could possibly encompass the magnitude of our forgiven sins. Jesus's parable about the unmerciful servant is a humbling example of the quickness of our hearts to hold onto offenses committed against us when we in fact should be held accountable for our countless offenses against others.

If you're not familiar with the story, obviously, GO READ IT (otherwise what I'm writing about won't be as impactful...). The gist of it, however, is that one man is forgiven his debts by his master, and instead of passing on that heart posture of forgiveness, the forgiven man attacks the man who owes him debts. Eventually, seeing what he had done, the master turns the forgiven man into jail to be tortured until he pays his debts.

Yikes.Convicting, right? There have certainly been times in my life when I have been forgiven (daily by God) by loved ones and friends, but instead of passing along that forgiveness, I have held onto bitterness in my heart. There have times when I have gone a step further and acted out against others. I cringe just thinking about those times and what kind of grip the devil and my own sin had on my heart. It makes my heart ache.

BUT. It doesn't end there. In response to how the master treated his servant who behaved so bitterly and ungraciously, Jesus said to his disciples, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Could there be a better reason to turn away from such behavior? I think not. But, I will say, aside from the rejection of God (which is the absolute worst rejection we could ever experience if we choose not to truly believe Jesus and invite the Holy Spirit in to change our hearts), holding onto bitterness in our hearts and lashing out with unforgiveness against others hurts ourselves most of all. Unforgiveness is a heavy burden to carry. I'm not a physician, but from personal experience, I can attest to the physical fatigue and discomfort caused by not letting go and forgiving. Unforgiveness is a rope that tightens its grip greater as the days go on, and the more time that passes tightening the ropes,(gossiping about past hurts to others, treating someone who has wronged us with contempt, holding onto a prideful attitude towards others who have made the same mistakes against us as we have to others...) the greater the burden on our own hearts.

So. Take a deep breath. Find a quiet spot (if you're quarantined with your family...maybe a loud family...of kids trying to stay focused on learning remotely.....might I suggest a few minutes to yourself on the Royal Throne? What about even stopping with your kids or family and making it a teaching moment? Hey, God doesn't care where you are as long as you are conversing with Him!!!). Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart for unforgiveness, and thank God for all the ways he has forgiven you. What a beautiful gift that is. Let us seek God's guidance in knowing how to go about forgiving others as our mighty Savior has bought forgiveness for us!