We have been talking about the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. At the conclusion of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Jesus tells us that forgiveness comes from the heart (see Matthew 18:35). The power of forgiveness comes from God dwelling in us. This is an important point. Forgiveness does not flow out of religious obligation. It is not something that we do out of guilt. We don’t forgive because we have to forgive. Forgiveness is not going through the motions. It is birthed out of a deep sense of unworthiness and gratitude before God.
We fail to forgive when we fail to grasp the enormity of our debt before God. Too many of us have become bookkeepers trying to balance out our “bad” with our “good.” We think to ourselves that: “I have never beat my children. I have never cheated on my spouse. I have never sold drugs. I have never killed anyone.” We don’t think of ourselves as being all that bad. Hitler is bad. The serial killer is bad. The drunk driver who killed the child is bad. The guy scamming elderly people out of their retirement funds is bad. I am not like them.
We look at our sins as poor decisions or personal failings. Not as grave offenses against a holy God. With a little time and a little work, we tempted to think we can make it right and cancel out our debt. To balance it out our indiscretions we go to church, put a little bit in the offering plate, volunteer to serve, perform some random acts of kindness towards our neighbor. In other words, we try to be a good person. More than anything else our religion is about being “nice.”
Record keeping causes us to compare. We look at the debts of others that must be hundreds of billions of dollars. We think our debt of $14 billion doesn’t seem that bad in comparison. With a religion of comparison, there is not much need for God.
But it doesn’t matter how big or small our debt is before God. It doesn’t matter if someone’s debt is bigger. It doesn’t matter if someone’s debt is smaller. $14 billion, $40 billion, or $400 billion, all of us have a debt bigger than we can pay. We are all beggars before God. We have no hope to ever pay back our debt. We are all unworthy. Because my bad is not as bad as your bad does not qualify me anymore for the kingdom than you. It’s all bad.
But by the grace shown through Jesus, we have all had that debt canceled. Our bad is erased, not on the condition of how minor our bad was, but on how great and good Jesus is. Our joy is that our debt has been canceled, not that our debt was smaller than someone else’s. When we focus on the amount of the debt over the fact that it has been canceled, it will create a sense of moral superiority within us. It leads us to believe that God will forgive our 14 billion debt because it is only a $14 billion debt compared to that guy that has hundreds of billion in debt.
Spiritual maturity is not about your awareness of how pure, right, and blameless you are before God. Rather, it is an awareness of how impure, wrong, and at fault we are before a holy God. Spiritual maturity happens when we are overwhelmed by our depravity and inadequacy. It happens, even more, when we realize and experience the immense grace and forgiveness of God.
When we grasp the height, the depth, and the length of God’s love, the cares of the world seemingly melt away. When we get lost in his presence, the things that once matter, no longer matter. We can forgive $12,000 because we have been forgiven $14 billion. The Apostle Paul talks about suffering persecution, imprisonments, and torture, but doing so in joy (see 2 Corinthians 6:3-10). He knew that nothing else that could happen to him could compare to the undeserved love shown by God. The overwhelming love of God dwelling in our hearts conquers any unforgiving bitterness that we might feel.
Reflection
- How do you grasp the immense forgiveness of God?
- Where do you base your relationship with God on comparison with others?
- How do you measure spiritual maturity?
Ros Janik says
I feel very blessed with your writings. God bless