“And the lord . . . felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.”

Matt 18:27 NASB95

     How Does Forgiveness Affect Me?

Shortly after his own forgiveness, Debt Free found his fellow slave, Debtor. Debtor owed Debt Free a manageable debt. Debt Free “seized” and “choked” (strong words) Debtor. Without compassion, affection, or patience he demanded, “Pay back or else (28)!” Debtor begged and made genuine and realistic promises to repay. “But Debt Free was unwilling and . . . threw Debtor in prison until (30).”

Debt Free “did not want to” be patient. Debt Free was unwilling. Debt Free “threw” Debtor in prison “until.” Debtor would remain there until some one else, family or friend, paid the debt. Debtor would be tortured and fed little, if any, food. Many starved.

How could Debt Free behave so? Think. Debt Free had forgotten his own forgiveness! If I fail to remember and value my own forgiveness, I will be unforgiving toward you, too. Really? Could I be so forgiven, and so unforgiving? Peter says it is certain. Having “forgotten” my forgiveness, I am “useless, unfruitful, and near-sighted to blind (2 Pet 1:4-9; 1 John 2:11).

     Remembering my own forgiveness is life changing (1 Tim 1:15). Forgetting my own forgiveness is, too. I dare not forget (Matt 6:7; Eph 4:32). This is why Believers, such as I, frequent the Lord’s Table (1 Cor 11:27-32).

 

 

Michael T. Sanders is the former minister of the Buechel Church of Christ in            

             Louisville, Kentucky and now retired UPS DC-8 Captain.