As I sit here writting this blog, my wife is sitting at home watching our two kids, one who is sick and the other who is 10 months old. I am amazed at how God uses her to raise them. As the wife of a pastor, she has a hard job and the pay stinks. Thankfully, she does not do it for the money! She is an amazing woman and she deserves full credit for how great our kids are! This blog is very short, but very needed! Therefore, I say…”CRYSTAL, YOU ARE AMAZING!”

ONE LOVE, ONE GOD, ONE WAY
JD

I have never really understood why Jesus told Peter to forgive 70 times 7. I mean, should we really forgive someone over and over and over again? Won’t that make me look like I loose the battle or that I am the weaker person?

When you look at Matthew 18:23-35, you begin to see what Jesus was telling Peter. It is in this parable that we see a King offering a servant forgiveness of a very large debt of 10,000 talents (1 talent was equal to 20 years worth of wages for labor). When the king went to the servant to collect, the servant could by no means repay this amount. It was impossible. Instead of holding the servant until he could pay, the King forgave the debt. Now check this. The king forgave a debt that was worth 200,000 years worth of labor. Lets cross the bridge to today’s money:

If 1 year salary = $50,000 than 200,000 years worth of salary = $1,000,000,000
So, for our setting, the King forgave a billion dollar debt. WOW! Now, once the servant was set free, he went out to collect on someone that owed him 100 denari (or 100 days worth of salary). When the person that owed him could not pay, he went nuts. He demanded payment without forgiveness. Let’s look at what the fuss was about.

If 1 year salary = $50,000 than 100 days worth of salary = approx. $13,700.00

Do you see this? The servant was forgiven of a debt for 1 billion dollars but would not forgive a debt for thirteen thousand. Why? I believe that he did not understand how much he had been forgiven. He had taken it for granted.

What about you? Do you realize how much you have been forgiven? We owed a debt, just like the servant, that we could not pay. The King above all kings sent Jesus to pay our debt. We have been forgiven. So why don’t we share that forgiveness? Why do we shy away from sharing the love of Christ? Why do we groan and complain when things in the church aren’t going like we want them to? BECAUSE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE FORGIVENESS WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN!

Consider your debt and how much you have been forgiven. Search for those who are also in debt and tell them how they can be forgiven. The blood of Jesus should be our theme!!!!

ONE LOVE, ONE GOD, ONE WAY
JD