The Bible passage for meditation, prayer, and reflection is taken from Matthew 18:21-35, commonly referred to as the ungrateful servant. The story is a parable from Jesus. I have used the New Living Translation for this post. I encourage you to use a Bible translation that you are comfortable with. Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is also important. It is important to remember how Jesus views forgiveness and the importance which His Father, (God), places on forgiveness.
21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35 (NLT)
As you meditate over this week’s Bible passage, I encourage you to consider verse 35 and the word refuse. Have you heard someone say that they can’t forgive that person? Is it that they can’t forgive orrefuse to forgive? Forgiveness is hard – Christ took forgiveness very seriously, He was all in – are you?
Two men are scheduled to be executed this week, both on June 12. For more information on these men, please visit The Forgiveness Foundation’s website. Please take time to pray for peace for the families of the victims. Please pray for strength for the families of the convicted. Please pray that if either man is innocent, evidence will be presented before their execution. Neither man has written to The Forgiveness Foundation. Please pray that Richard and Jan will come to have a personal relationship with their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if they have not already found one.