Right now, I’m reading a book called “Healing for Damaged Emotions” that one of my teammates recommended to me. This passage really stuck out to me:
“When the King decided to settle his accounts, he found that one servant owed him the fantastic sum of ten million dollars. Jesus used an impossible sum of money in this parable. The annual taxes from the provinces of Judea, Idumea, Samaria, Galilee, and Perea all put together only amounted to $800,000. But the exaggerated size of debt is the whole point. A person’s debt to God and to other’s is so great that it can never be paid back, any more than a servant working for a few cents a day could ever save up enough money to repay a debt of ten millions dollars.
“The servant fell on his knees and begged for mercy. He was asking for a special kind of mercy, makrothumason. Every time this word is used in the New Testament, it means, “an extension of time, a delay.” “Lord, have patience with me. Please delay and I’ll pay back everything. Give me more time.”
“We see that the servant’s idea of forgiveness was one thing, but the Lord’s idea was another. The Lord in His mercy forgave him all his debt and released him.
“But the same servant, as he went out, saw a fellow servant, a coworker, who owed him a measly twenty bucks. He seized him by the throat and said, “Pay me what you owe me.” When the coworker couldn’t do it, the servant showed no mercy in him but put him into the debtor’s prison until paid in full.
“The lord summoned the servant and said, “Look, I forgave you all your debts and now you treat your fellow servant this way.” So in anger the Lord delivered him to prison until he should pay all.
“Now, that’s bad enough, but Jesus’ next statement is the real shocker. “So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
“Wait a minute, Jesus. What are you trying to tell us? What kind of picture of the Heavenly Father is this? Is it a mistranslation? No, the inference is clear. To the unforgiven and the unforgiving, God will be like a harsh and stern debt-collector.
“Is this an exaggeration, like the inflated sum of money? Or does it refer to the future life, to the punishment of the wicked? It may include those, but we don’t have to wait until the next life to see Jesus’ words come true. For here and now, the unforgiven and unforgiving person is plagued with guilt and resentment. He lives in a prison house where he find himself tortured by all manner of inner emotional conflicts.
“Woven into Jesus’s parable is a picture of human relationships. The world is made for forgiveness; it is made for grace; it is made for love in all of life. The need for these has been built into the structure of nature, of persons. It is in every cell of our bodies, in every interpersonal relationship. We are made for grace and love and acceptance.”
Later, the book goes on the say that the unforgiven and the unforgiving experience guilt, resentment, striving and anxiety that produces all kinds of emotional problems.
Guilt- The fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability.
Resentment- The feeling of displeasure or indignation at some act, remark, person, ect., regarded as causing injury or insult.
Strive- To exert oneself vigorously: Try hard
Anxiety- Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune
Is this what God wants for us? Does God want us to experience guilt and resentment not only toward the people that have hurt us but also toward ourselves? I don’t think so.
My team just finished studying Galatians, and Galatians 5:14 says:
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
I’m pretty sure that resentment is not a part of love. Guilt is not a part of love. Anxiety is not a part of love.
Love is pure. Love is patient. Love is kind.
No matter what people do to you or how they hurt you or what kind of pain and suffering they caused to you…..you have to forgive them or you’re not fulfilling God’s law.
This is something I’m working on, and I can’t wait to be free of this.
There’s one thing I’m going to try to focus on this whole entire race. Love.
And everything else will fall into place.
