Unlimited: How Forgiveness Works in the Kingdom
Feb 5, 2017 1063
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32).
I once owed a friend a whole lot of money, and I knew that I couldn’t pay it back. I lay awake at night tossing and turning, and just thinking about it. What did this friend do? He signed a paper called a “debt forgiveness” and he gave it to me, so that I wouldn’t worry about it again. I slept better after that!
Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who owed an impossible amount of money (Matthew 18:23–35). And the man to whom he owed it, incredibly forgave him the whole debt! But then the man in the story failed to forgive another guy who owed him only a few dollars.
Every one of us has failed to live the kind of way that God wants us to live. It’s as if we owed a debt to God. We are all sinners.
But that’s not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is if we reject the forgiveness that God offers us through Jesus Christ. And how we treat others will show whether we have accepted or rejected God’s forgiveness.
And that’s the moral of Jesus’ story: in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiven people forgive. – Eliezer Gonzalez
Eli’s Reflection: Consider your own position in the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of the benchmark that “in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiven people forgive.” Would those who most need your forgiveness be able to give evidence that you belong in the Kingdom of Heaven based on how you have forgiven them? If you find it difficult to forgive, who can you talk to, who can help you with this situation?
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