How Much Do You Owe?

It always seems that the season of Lent is the time when most folks prepare to file their income taxes.   The bottom line is that most folks want to know this:  “Do I owe or does the government owe me?”     Anotherwords, is the government indebted to me or am I indebted to the government?  

We hear in Matthew 18 a story about a man who owed a huge debt.   Discharge of debt through bankruptcy was not an option in that day, so the man was facing the possibility that he and his family would  be sold into slavery.   He begs  for mercy from his master and is forgiven.   Lo and behold, the  man forgiven of debt encounters a person that owes him money and has him thrown into prison.  Listen to how the story ends in Matthew 18: 32-35,  

 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.”

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”, is how the Lords Prayer puts it in some translations.    God has forgiven a huge debt, the debt of our sinfulness.   Oh, for the grace to be more forgiving of others.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER

Move us, O God, to being as forgiving of others as we want to you to be forgiving of us;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.