In Matthew 18, starting in verse 21, Jesus tells a story about forgiveness. You may have read this passage multiple times in your lifetime, or perhaps you have no idea what I’m referring too. Well, either way I will give you a quick rundown of the story before we get to an underlining principle.
Matthew 18:21-35
Jesus is telling a story about a king and his servants. One servant, for the sake of clarity we will call him Steve-o, owed the king a ton of money. He was in major debt with his King Credit Card! So the king called him in and told him he was going to be sold, along with his family into slavery and his assets would be liquidated. Steve-o cried to the king and begged him to give him some time to pay him back. The king had compassion on Steve-o and forgave all of his debts. Remind you of anyone yet?
Later that day, Steve-o found his friend Jim-bo, who owed him a buku bucks. Steve-o freaked on Jim-bo and told him to pay up. Jim-bo didn’t have the funds so he begged Steve-o to give him some time so he could pay him back. Steve-o refused and, rightfully so concerning the law, had Jim-bo thrown into jail. Well the king found out and was ticked! He brought Steve-o before him and explained that because he didn’t show the same compassion in which he received, he would be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And thus, Steve-o went to jail… and by the way was tortured.
So what does all this mean? It means that Jesus went all the way, to the fullest extent, died on the cross in order to forgive you of everything you ever did or will do. He didn’t cut any corners, but did it all. But in this story, it shows that perhaps we can have a tendency as humans to receive grace from God and be forgiven of everything, but yet not willing to forgive others. Perhaps, we even use the law to condemn others and judge others. We use it because we feel justified by it for not wanting to extend grace to another for what they did to us. I know I have found scriptures before to make myself feel better for judging someone. But that’s wrong. We should follow Jesus’ example and exhausts all resources to extend grace to others, not hold up the law and judge them. Why? It only results in judgment upon us. (Matthew 7:1)
Casting Condemnation (Judgement) Only Produces More Condemnation. Instead, Plant Grace in the Hearts of Others.
How far will you go to extend grace to others?
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