January 29: “You Gotta Forgive Or Else”

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Prepare Your Heart

To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.

Read God’s Word

Exodus 11:1-12:42
Matthew 18:21-35

A Verse for Today

Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.

Matthew 18:21-22 (CSB): “Then Peter approached him and asked, ‘Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?’ ‘I tell you, not as many as seven,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven.’”

Reflecting on God’s Word

What Jesus said in Matthew 18:21-22 is powerful! Forgiving someone who hurts us seven times isn’t nearly enough. Instead, Jesus calls us to forgive them seventy times seven.

Hint: If we are counting, we’re not forgiving.

But I love the parable that Jesus told after His statement on forgiveness. Let me quickly retell it and then attempt to explain it.

When we look at Matthew 18:23-25, we observe that a king wanted to settle his accounts. It was discovered that someone in his kingdom owed him 10,000 talents.

To put that in perspective, a talent was roughly 6,000 denarii. A denarius was roughly a common person’s daily wage. So, let’s say we find someone today making the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. If we took the numbers at face value, the first person mentioned in Jesus’ parable would owe the king somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.48 billion.

Obviously, there is no way this guy could ever repay His debt. He was in a hopeless situation. The king’s desire to sell him would only scratch the surface of recovering his money. It was probably just to keep him from accruing even more debt.

In Matthew 18:26-27, we read that this servant fell facedown in front of his king. There was no way he could pay the debt, and he deserved whatever his master deemed right. So, he did the only thing he could do – he pleaded with the master for forgiveness. The king graciously granted him free and unconditional forgiveness.

In the parable, this man represents someone who is lost and worthy of hell. There was no way He could pay his sin debt, so he fell on his knees and asked for Jesus’ forgiveness. Jesus granted forgiveness and saved him. His sin debt is wiped clean. He is no longer a debter to a holy God. He is saved!

In Matthew 18:28, we read that this servant who had been forgiven billions of dollars in debt found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. Doing the math, it would equal out to about $5,800. We are appalled that a man who had been forgiven a $3.48 billion debt would strangle a fellow servant who owed him less than $6,000. He had just been forgiven so much, yet he couldn’t forgive someone who had committed an infinitely lesser offense against him.

Are you getting the picture? This illustrates how ludicrous and morally wrong it is for a believer who has been forgiven a massive debt against a holy God to refuse to forgive a fellow believer who harmed them. In other words, since God has forgiven us so much, can’t we forgive each other?

Matthew 18:32-33 (CSB): “Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’”

In the final part of this parable, we read in Matthew 18:29-35 that the unjust servant was ratted out. The king was told what he was doing. So, the king threw him into prison. Listen to how Jesus described it.

Matthew 18:34-35 (CSB): “And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

Jesus was simply saying that someone who refuses to forgive will be tormented by God until he forgives his brother. Have you ever noticed how someone who has refused to forgive someone who hurt them ends up becoming an angry person? Sometimes, they get bitter and are recklessly angry at the world. They are “being tortured,” as Jesus said in Matthew 18:34.

Friend, don’t hold onto unforgiveness. No matter how badly someone has hurt you, don’t hold onto it. It will destroy you. Besides, with all that God has forgiven you, can’t you forgive the other person of such a lesser offense? Ask God to give you the grace to forgive and move on. Then let Him deal with that person.

Of course, if someone has done something illegal, we rest in God’s care while we tell the authorities. But we refuse under any conditions to hold onto unforgiveness. It will destroy us if we don’t let it go.

Spend Time in Prayer

Lord Jesus, I celebrate the fact that You have forgiven me. You have saved me and forgiven me of every single sin that would have kept me out of Heaven and away from You. Yet, I know all too well that while I celebrate the fact that You have forgiven me, I sometimes find it hard to forgive others. Help me to see unforgiveness as the ugly sin that it is. Help me, instead, to rest in Your care and Your justice. I pray this in Your Name, Amen.

Going Deeper

I want to recommend a book to you if you are struggling with unforgiveness. It’s a book that God used to help me break free of unforgiveness quite a few years ago.
“The Freedom Factor: Finding Peace by Forgiving Others… and Yourself” by Bruce Wilkinson

If you want to go deeper, check out this article by Got Questions: “What did Jesus mean when He said that we should forgive others seventy times seven?”

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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com).