It’s hard to forgive, but it’s very important to do so. After that, Jesus told a story that showed us why we need to forgive. The story was about a servant who forgot to forgive a huge debt and then refused to forgive a much smaller debt for another servant. When his master heard about it, he changed his mind about forgiving the huge debt. He sent the first helper to be tortured until the debt was paid.
Christ forgives us for more than we could ever pay. That’s the point of the story. Since God has shown us so much grace, we should certainly show others grace and forgiveness. God will stop being so kind to us if we aren’t. He said the same thing about the prayer He taught His servants (Matthew 6:14–15). When God deals with us, He wants us to learn from it.
It says at the end of the story that we will be punished if we don’t forgive others. The pain is often our own refusal to forgive. The guilty thought keeps going through our minds, and it hurts our hearts. The criminal probably doesn’t even remember what happened, but we do. We make ourselves go through the painful event over and over again instead of letting it go and going on. Not only does not forgiving us refuse to show the kindness we have received, but it also hurts us over and over again. Peter asked how many times someone could be forgiven for doing bad things to us over and over again. It’s possible that we need to forgive the same act 77 times, or every time we think about it, until we can let it go.
Think about this: If you don’t forgive, you hurt yourself and the people in your life who have to deal with the anger it causes. Think about how much God has forgiven you and ask Him to help you forgive those who have hurt you.
