Show Mercy

Transcript:

Matthew 18:33 is the statement of a king who had pardoned his servant who owed a huge amount to him, and this servant found one of his servants owed him a very tiny amount, but yet, he refused to forgive him in the same manner that this king had pardoned him, and then when the king got to know, he cancelled the pardon.

This particular story is a picture of how we will face our judgment before the Lord of lords. It is not talking about the initial forgiveness that we received when we accepted the Lord into our life. The Bible says if we continue with a life of not forgiving others who are depending on us for mercy, grace, love and forgiveness, then the initial forgiveness that we had received would be cancelled, and when we stand before God on the great judgment day, God would look at us and say “Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” and the Bible says the king in fact sent this servant back to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That is a picture of eternal damnation that we will be in the danger of experiencing if we do not live a life of mercy on a daily basis.

Sometimes, the reason that we feel that we cannot show mercy to people is because we think that they are going to take advantage of us, mistreat us, hurt us or that we are entitled to be treated, honored and respected in such a manner. Now, if we are going to bring the same equation in our relationship with God, we will understand that none of us are entitled to anything and if there is one thing that we deserve is to rot in hell for all eternity.

We are the people who are supposed to be the representatives of the mercy of God. When people offend us, hurt us, disrespect us or disappoint us, it is an opportunity given by God to be a representative of His mercy, love and grace.

We are all imperfect people in the hands of a merciful God and if God in His great mercy chose to forgive us and how much more should we intentionally let people off the offense. Let us not put conditions or barriers for people to come back and reconcile with us.

Sometimes, forgiveness would require some boundaries in terms of repeated offense but that does not mean we continue to see them from the same perspective. Our perspective needs to change from our heart and also the way we identify that person.

The Bible says God has shown us mercy to the extent of forgetting our inequities, trespasses, and sins. May the Lord give us the supernatural grace to show mercy to others just as we have been shown mercy.