The servant fell on his knees before him, "Be patient with me," he begged, "and I will pay back everything." The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. Matthew 18:26-27, NIV

I like this parable. It's of a man who had gotten into so much debt that there was simply no way it could be repaid. We are told that the man owed 10,000 talents. Estimates for the value of a talent range between 3,000 and 10,000 day's wages, so this man owed the equivalent of 30 million to 100 million days of hard labor. Since this would take thousands of lifetimes to repay, it was literally a debt that was impossible to repay - yet, the master forgave him and let him go.

This lesson shows us just how massive of a debt we owe to God for our sins - it's too big to be repaid. But instead of sending each one of us to the Hell that our sins have earned, He cancels the debt for all who would accept His forgiveness on His terms. He did so by allowing His one and only Son to pay the debt for us. Since that is the case, shouldn't we be grateful? I believe that we would all insist that we are, until we consider how we treat others who have sinned against us.

Maybe their sin was just a petty injustice, or maybe it was a "great big" sin that caused us untold pain and embarrassment. But, whatever the case, we simply did not forgive them. How do you think God views such a lack of mercy? We don't have to wonder, for we are told the rest of the story in the parable quoted from above:

It seems that as soon as the man was forgiven his debt of 10,000 talents (30-100 million day's wages), he immediately went out and found a man who owed him 100 days wages. The man begged forgiveness but the man who had been forgiven much refused to have mercy. Instead, he had his debtor thrown into prison. When this evil man's master heard of this, he gave the following response:

"You wicked servant," he said, "I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?" In his anger, his master turned him over to the jailers until he should pay back all he owed. Matthew 18:32-34, NIV

Jesus' next point should give us all pause for consideration - He said that this is how God will treat anyone who does not forgive his brother from the heart. Is there anyone in your life that you have yet to forgive? Today would be a good day to do just that.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12, NIV