Forgiving Others

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart. – Matthew 18:35

Where it says that we must forgive others to be forgiven is in, what is called, the Lord’s Prayer. It says, “forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who have trespassed (sinned) against us” (Matt 6:9-13). And so we are told that we must forgive others. Is there someone you haven’t forgiven?

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Let me tell you about the ruler who threatened to have the man’s wife and children sold for the 10 thousand talents that he owed him. The man begged and pleaded to have his debt forgiven (Matt 18:21-35). Ten thousand talents would’ve been more than a person at that time could earn in a lifetime and so there was no way that he could ever repay the debt. After much pleading and begging, the ruler said okay and the ruler canceled his debt. Then this same man went out and saw a man who owed him a hundred denarii which was then about a day’s wages. The man begged him to please forgive him and asked that he give him time to repay the debt, however the man threw him in prison until he could repay it. After the ruler heard about this, he took the man who had owed the ten thousand talents and told the jailers to torture him until such a time that he could repay it…meaning it would be for eternity. The point of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant shows that what we have been forgiven is exponentially more than those things we forgive others for. See the application? He canceled our debt…shouldn’t we cancel the debts of others against us? We have been forgiven so much more, more than we could ever repay in a lifetime, than for someone who we can forgive that is so much less. Jesus would have us go and do likewise; otherwise we are treading on dangerous ground.