Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
When was the last time someone did something really nice for you? How did you respond?
Often when someone does something good for us, our day improves immediately. We feel happier, we act kinder, and everything seems to be better.
Unfortunately, the reverse is also. When we are wronged, our day often takes a severe downturn.
Read and contemplate Matthew 18:21–35.
Can you imagine being so indebted that you couldn’t pay it off, even if you contributed your entire salary for 20 years? The debt owed in this story was equivalent to over 1,000 years worth of the average person’s salary. How could anyone ever pay this off?
Grace is the best word to describe the action of the king in this story. Out of the kindness of his heart, he gave the debtor something impossible to earn, and something he could never deserve.
The scope of the king’s gracious act makes the servant’s following action even more frustrating. Though he had been forgiven a massive debt, he immediately harrassed another man who owed him less than 1/100th of the debt forgiven by the king.
I am easily angred by this unforgiving servant who was shown so much grace, and refused to show far less grace to another. However, the huge debt he was forgiven is immensely smaller than the sin-debt I was forgiven by God.
How many times in one day do we forget the debt we were forgiven and then demonstrate a lack of grace toward others. The grace of God which was shown to us should drive us to be overly-gracious to our fellow brothers and sisters.
Today: Think of someone who does not deserve your grace. Then find a way to demonstrate grace to them, not because you want to, but because of the grace you’ve been shown!
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