Welcome to day 18 of our 40 day challenge! Today, we are in Matthew 18

(You can catch up on our Intro, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17 if you missed them)

Matthew 18:21-35

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

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.³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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I picture Peter standing there, feeling really generous as he asks Jesus whether he should forgive even up to seven times. Seven seems like a lot. And then Jesus blows his expectation out of the water with His answer. It’s easy to look at others and think we come out way ahead. But when we walk with Jesus, and we understand the magnitude of what He’s done for us, we can see that seventy times our expectation isn’t too much.

Walking with the Lord means we always come out ahead, as He pours grace, mercy, love, and blessings upon us. The measure we use, He uses back to us. And so it is with forgiveness, too. When we see how forgiving He is toward us, it becomes easier to forgive others.

Forgiveness is a heart matter, a “contrary to feelings” choice, that’s between the Lord and us. Forgiveness is for our benefit, not for the person who wronged us. The other person doesn’t even need to know it happened because it doesn’t have anything to do with them. Forgiveness is us getting our hearts right before the Lord. We forgive for Jesus, and our fellowship with Him.

It doesn’t mean we aren’t angry or hurt. And it doesn’t mean we forget what happened, or open ourselves up to being hurt again. It’s a decision we make in faith. It just means we release the other person. We give up any right we might feel to get even or take vengeance, and we will the good of the person who wronged us. And again, we don’t do it because they deserve it. We do it for Jesus, and for our own benefit.

Forgiveness, therefore, isn’t reconciliation. Forgiveness is between God and us. Reconciliation depends on the other person.  To reconcile, the offender must acknowledge the hurt they’ve caused and be both willing and able to right it. We aren’t commanded to reconcile with everyone, but we are commanded to forgive.

This parable is foundational for relationships as believers. We begin with a clean slate before the Lord, and because of that, we can generously offer it to others. And, as we let others off the hook, we let ourselves off it as well. We aren’t occupied making a list of slights and wrongs done to us. We wipe the slate clean, and as we do, we right our relationship with the Lord as well. It orients us in the right direction and gives us the mindset we need to walk with Christ. If we understand how much we’ve been forgiven, it’s easier to forgive another person.

There’s a popular saying that the journey matters more than the destination. And it is important to focus on the day-to-day, and not just where we want to be in the future. But as Christians, what matters the most is who we become along the way. As we talked about before, the end never justifies the means with Christ. And the journey matters. How we do things matters. And the end goal of it all is to become more and more like Jesus, to have the character sufficient to handle the blessings and co-laboring He has in store for us. The Lord has things He longs to give us, but we aren’t mature enough to handle them yet.  And one of the biggest barriers is unforgiveness.

It’s an easy choice when we keep this parable in mind. We do it for Jesus. And He is always worthy. When we’ve been given such a large gift, how much easier is it to give a small one to the Lord?

Options for further  journaling or discussion throughout the challenge:

• Choose a part of the passage to write out by hand. Writing by hand helps us slow down and focus on what the Lord might highlight for us in the passage. Our brains can focus and remember better by writing than just reading alone.
• Journal about what the passage brings to mind. Does the passage tell us anything about God? Does it tell us anything about our response to Him?
• Does your heart respond in gratitude to any part of the passage? Write or pray your gratitude to the Lord.

We’ll see you tomorrow for Day 19, and Luke 19

♥ Samantha