10:00 PM Saturday, May 16, 2009
This is a small part of the book Driven by Eternity by John Bevere. I have edited a bit of it to try and make it shorter.
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From Matthew 18:21-35Jesus told a parable of a great king in process of settling accounts. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. A talent was not a measure of money,but a measure of weight.It was used to measure gold or silver, and other metals and commodities. In this parable it represents a debt, so we can take it that he was refering to a unit of exchange such as gold or silver. Lets take it as gold.
1 talent was about 75pounds. It was about the full weight a man could carry. Ten thousand talents would be about 750,000 pounds,or 375 tons. So this servant owed the king 750,000 pounds of gold. At the time the book was written, the price of gold was about $420 an ounce. So count it and in todays market it would be worth $5 billion! The point Jesus emphasised here is that the servant owed a big debt he could not pay.
The king commanded that he and his family be sold and payment be made towards the debt. The man fell at the king's feet and pleaded for mercy, which the king granted. He forgave the entire debt. Forgiveness is the cancellation of a debt. So the king in this parable would represent God and the servant would be someone who has received forgiveness through Christ Jesus.
However, we read, "but that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii;and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying,'Pay me what you owe! "(Matt. 18:28)
A denari is a common wage of one day. Let's take it as $75 in today's money.So the total would be about $7500. So you can see this is not a small offense.
Continuing with the story, "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and i will pay you all.'And he would not,but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt" (Matt.18:29-30)
A fellow servant owed him $7500, but this man, who has been forgiven of $5 billion, will not release his fellow servant; he is determined to make him pay. So our offence agaisnt God is likened to $5 billion and the offence someone has made agaisnt us is compared to $7500!
A person who cannot forgive has forgotten how great a debt they were forgiven! When you realize the great death and eternal torment Jesus delivered you from, you will freely release others.
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So i urge all of you to forgive whatever anyone has offended you in.It is extremely important."But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses"
(Mark 11:26)
Lets forgive any offenses agaisnt us today =)
Labels: Forgiven to Forgive