Forgiven Much so We Can Forgive Much

 Matthew 18: 21-35 – The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Today I read this passage in my daily reading and every time I read it I seem to see something new or I am reminded of something I tend to forget.  In this parable, there is a man who owes the king ten thousand talents (roughly 60 million dollars to over 1 Billion+ dollars in today’s money).  It would take over 150,000 years for him to pay it back.  The servant pleads with the king to have mercy, be patient and give him time to pay it back (knowing full well he’d never be able to repay that debt).  The king has mercy on him and forgives him his ENTIRE debt.  How very generous! The sad part of this story is that the same servant who was forgiven of so much goes to his servant who owed one hundred denarii (roughly $1,000 in today’s money) and demanded he pay him back.  When the servant pleaded for his master to be patient and give him time to pay it back the master refused and had the servant imprisoned.  

As I was thinking about this after reading it, it reminds me of how much I’ve been forgiven.  A debt I could never repay was graciously paid for by someone else.  How then am I able to not forgive someone else when I’ve already been forgiven of so much?!  I think so many times we are the servant, making mistake after mistake and our debts just keep piling up.  Before we know it, we’re in so deep that we don’t see a way out.  We’re in so far we could never repay or make up for what we’ve done.  We hide in shame and guilt and convince ourselves that no matter what we do we could never earn the forgiveness of the ones we’ve wronged.  We are never “too far gone” to be forgiven.  If we just take that step, admit our faults, repent, and ask for forgiveness we can be made new.  It’s not up to us for the person who is wronged to forgive us, but it is our responsibility to own our mistakes, confess them and admit that we’ve wronged them, and ask for the forgiveness.  That’s all we can control, doing our part.  We’ll never be perfect, we will continue making mistakes, but we should be able to learn from our past mistakes and move forward with the knowledge, understanding, and righteousness to not continue repeating the same mistakes.

Thankfully we serve a BIG God who already forgave us for EVERY mistake we’ve ever made, are making, and will make in our entire lifetime.  A debt we could never pay, he’s paid for us.  He forgives us, loves us, and wants us to walk rightly in relationship with him.  He’s forgiven us of so very much so how can we not forgive those that have wronged us?  

If you’re feeling down, depressed, or unworthy, I beg you to reach out to the God who understands, loves you more than you’ll ever comprehend, he’s ready and able to forgive you!

This reminded me of the song “You Are More” by Tenth Avenue North.  

The lyrics state: 
You are more than the choices that you've made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You've been remade