Matthew 18 – Resenting forgiveness

Jesus tells the story of a man who was forgiven a great debt he owed, but then went out and demanded a small debt be paid by a man who owed him.  The point Jesus is making is that the man who was forgiven the enormous debt, should in turn be willing to forgive a small debt.

The obvious application to our live is that if Jesus has forgiven all of the sins I have committed against him (and they are great and numerous) then I have no right to withhold forgiveness for the sins anyone commits against me.  In fact, the story seems to imply that I should forgive those who have sinned against before before they even ask.

I would argue that because of the enormous debt Christ has forgiven in my life, I have no right to hold anything against anyone; it is my duty to forgive as I have been forgiven.  That is a hard thing to do and I do not do it well.  Forgiveness is tough, but the next time I find myself having a hard time forgiving I need to re-read the second half of Matthew 18 and recognize that Jesus did not resent forgiving me.

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