Last night I was talking to my boy Jesus and He was reminding me of a story…
He brought me back to the parable of the unmerciful debtor (Matthew 18:28-35). In the parable, a man asks for patience on his debt. His debtor, not only grants him that, but forgives his debt all together. This man is overjoyed and feels blessed beyond belief. Later on, someone who is indebted to him comes and asked him for mercy. Instead of paying forward what had happened to him, he refuses and becomes bitter. As a result, his deptor becomes enraged and placed the dept back on him. Not only this, but he was turned over to the jailera to be tortured until he payed it all back.
In our own lives we do this sometimes. Christ forgave all of our debt the moment Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but we still hold grudges and hold on to old promises. In my own life, this looks like this:
Last summer, my brother had a girlfriend and no job. He continually asked me for money and eventually owed me $45 dollars. I haven’t given him money since because I felt entitled to the money that he already owed me. Last night, while talking to God, He said to me… You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”
In that moment, I forgave my brother’s debt.
You see, too often we hold onto things that we feel entitled too and forget to appreciate what we are already blessed with. So I encourage you to forgive that debt that you have been holding onto. And move forward, loving as Christ first loved us.
