Selifishness Shortens Our Memory…

One of the things selfishness does to us is it shortens our memory. It tends to help us forget the good and focus on the task ahead. It helps us lose sight of what life is really all about. And lastly, it helps us forget about the important lessons we learned or should’ve learned. Here we have a man who was forgiven a huge debt. The debt was so large he would never be able to repay it. He pleads with the king to allow him time to pay it back (which was impossible). The king feels compassion for the man so he forgives him of his debt. Instead of being grateful, the man goes out and abuses someone who owed him a small portion of money (as compared to his own debt). He throws him in jail. In his attempt to pay back the king’s debt, the man lost sight of what had transpired when the king forgave his debt. His pride, his selfishness caused him to treat another human being worse than he was treated before he was forgiven. I think that’s the biggest problem in society today. Our selfishness and pride misinterpret what forgiveness really is. We don’t know how to rightly respond to Gods Grace. Instead of seeing it as a release from a debt we can never repay, we see it as an opportunity to try to pay it all back. In the process we lose sight of the importance of what means most to God, human beings. We forget what we’ve been granted, and focus on what we can do to pay it all back. It’s impossible. Instead of focusing on ourselves, why not focus on the Granter of this Graceful act. Why not try to emulate what He has done for us. We are all debtors/transgressors. We have all broken the contract of the loan. We cannot pay it back. Stop trying to justify. Stop trying to figure out a way to pay back the loan (that’s what being religious does). Admit to yourself and to God that what He has done is the only remedy to the problem of sin. Then act on what you know to be true. And that is being grateful to the One Who paid your debt in full, cancelling the punishment you deserve. Emulate the grace that was extended to you toward others. That way, God will see the only right response we can have towards His mercy, and be proud of us. And just as important, it will prove to ourselves by being tangible evidence that we truly do love Him. “Be merciful, for I am merciful.” It’s how we thank God, out of gratitude not obligation.

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