And the lord of that slave felt
compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
Matthew
18:27 New American Standard
Bible (NASB)
This verse is in the middle
of a parable Jesus taught on forgiveness. A king was settling accounts and was
going to put a certain slave in prison because of his massive debt, but the
slave begged and pleaded so the king forgave his debt. It is estimated that the
amount owed equated to millions of dollars in today’s market. Yet the king
forgave the slave because he felt compassion. That is what God did for us.
Because of our sin, we owe an enormous debt to God, one that we could never
come close to paying. Yet God felt compassion for us and chose mercy. It is
based on His love not our worthiness.
The story goes on to say that
the slave later tracked down a fellow slave and demanded his debt (of a
relatively insignificant amount) paid immediately. When this didn’t happen, the
second slave and his family were thrown in prison. The king heard of this,
summoned the first slave and recanted his mercy because of the slave’s lack of
compassion. God could demand justice every time and make us pay for our sin,
but He doesn’t. We should have that same grace and mercy on others because it
has been given to us. The slave in question showed his heartlessness because he
was not willing to extend the same mercy (it could even be considered lesser
mercy because the debt was incredibly less) to another. God is willing to
forgive, but He won’t if we don’t. Remember that when you are tempted to
withhold compassion or forgiveness for any reason, repent of your pride and ask
God to help you.
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