Sep 1, 2011
Focus Reading: Matt 18:21-35
I believe that to understand today's reading is to understand that the unforegiving servant was forgiven more than 150, 000 years wages for a labourer, by his master. It was an amount that he could never repay. This is a picture of the grace and mercy of God. We can never repay God's love shown to us in Jesus. In God forgiving us, a debt has been paid that we can never repay. Yet like the forgiven servant, we somehow either don't believe or can not see how much God loves us. So when someone comes across our path who needs to be forgiven by us, of a debt or hurt, we demand payment. We demand this payment! This may be so we can pass some of that back to God to begin to repay the already paid debt that we can never repay. It may also be because we do not trust our master, and want to look after ourselves. If we understand how much God has forgiven us and how much it has cost God, how wide and deep God's love is, then surely we will want to forgive others!
Questions for thought or discussion
To what extent do you trust God to forgive you? In what ways do you find yourself trying to repay God or prove your own value? How easy do you find it to forgive others? How does this parable about how much God has forgiven us motivate you to forgive others?