Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?
Matthew 18:21
New Living Translation (NLT)
No, not seven times… but seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:22 (NLT)
Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold – along with his wife, his children and everything he owned – to pay the debt. But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
But when the man left the king, he want to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’
he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait.
He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you? Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”
Matthew 18: 23 – 34 (NLT)
10,000 TALENTS=200,000 YEARS OF WAGES
But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving,
even though we have rebelled against him.
Daniel 9:9 (NLT)
MERCY
“compassion or forgiveness shown toward
somene whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”
How will we respond to the mercy we receive from God?
But if you refuse to forgive others,
your Father in Heaven will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:15 (NLT)
When we rely on god and lean into his mercy and forgiveness, he can transform our hearts and help us develop mercy and forgiveness for others.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (NLT)
Have you accepted the mercy God is extending to you?
Or are you still trying to work off a debt that is impossible to pay on your own?
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Will you receive God’s mercy through Jesus?
Will you extend that same mercy
to others?