Wednesday the 6th

Matthew 18: ³²"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'

 

If you won the lottery, what would you do with it? If someone was to come into your life, and pay off all of your debt what would you do with that extra money every month, how would you treat those who owe you? It reminds me of the two old farmers sitting on the front porch. One asked the other “Tom, if you won the lottery, would you give me half of it?”, to which Tom replied, “well John, of course I would, we have been friends forever. If I won the lottery, of course I would give you half.” They sat a while then John asked, “Tom, if someone gave you a truck, would you give me the one you have now?” to which Tom responded, “Of course John, you are like a brother to me, there is nothing that I have that I would not give to you, of course if I had an extra truck I would give you one.” John thought a few minutes and asked “Tom, if you had two hogs would you give me one?” Tom was quiet for a long time, then he said, “ now John you know that is not fair…..I HAVE two hogs!”  You see, we are always eager to give what we don’t have, it is easy to say sure if I had it……but when it comes to giving away what we have…..well things can get a little dicey can’t they. You have won the lottery, we all have, our debts have been paid and the balance sheet is at zero. So why are we still out looking for all of those that owe us? Why can’t we forgive our debtors in the same manner that our debt has been forgiven? We at times are the wicked servant, no it is not a title you or I want to wear, but it is one that fits none the less. I am sure that the reason why so many of us are out looking for those that owe us, is because we do not fully understand that our debt has been canceled. We tend to try and fit God into our human world, and when we do that it becomes hard to understand the fullness of what He does for us. What happens when someone forgives a debt? There is always a catch right? We owe them, they are going to come ask us for something…..nothing free in this world is really free. That is the mindset that so many of us have about God’s forgiveness. So we spend our time collecting debts and keeping score, because sooner or later we are going to have to pay God back…..we owe Him. God gave us His son, not because he wanted to indebt us to Him, He did it out of love. It was a gift freely given, and ours to take hold of, or reject. When we start to understand that there is nothing that we can to pay God back (for what can we do, that God cannot do for Himself) We begin to understand we are free, truly free. Our debt has been erased….you are forgiven for all of it…yes, even that thing that you think can never be forgiven….it is gone, and all we can do to show our gratitude is to return the favor to those around us, and pass the glory on to God. You can’t live a forgiven life if you are not willing to forgive, you can’t fully accept the gift the Lord is giving you, if you hold on to the very thing that was erased from your life. You can’t experience the fullness of Christ if the space in your heart is filled up with Junk. Let it go, forgive those around you, so that you can live a forgiven life.   

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

 

www.theworkweekwithchrist.blogspot.com