Grace
Most of us remember the story from Matthew 18 of a servant who owed his master more money than he could repay. When the master called in the debt, the man was helpless to repay so the master decided to sell the man and his family into slavery to recoup part of his losses. The man fell on his knees asking for mercy and the master, in a moment of compassion, forgave the entire amount and continued to keep him on as a servant. Immediately after receiving the incredible gift of grace from his master, he ran into another servant who owed him a few dollars. He demanded his money and when that servant couldn’t pay, he had him put in jail until he could get his money. When the master heard what had happened, he was furious and put the man whose debt he had forgiven in jail, rebuking him for not showing others the mercy he had received. Jesus finished the story by saying that God will deal with us in the same way if we don’t forgive others their wrongs toward us, because God has forgiven our unpayable debt through his Son.
The question always arises as to why the servant, who was forgiven the enormous debt, was so unbending toward the one who owed him a small debt. Of course, he could have just been wicked and perverse. Once he escaped punishment, he still felt the entitlement to demand from others what was not demanded from him. Some people whose hearts are hard are just like that. But there may be another reason that we all need to consider.
In the story, when his master demanded payment, the servant cried out, “Please be patient with me. If you’ll just give me more time, I will repay you all that is owed’ (Matt. 18:29). When the master completely forgave his debt, the servant may have understood the forgiveness to simply mean that he had extended the note, but would still require payment later. If that were the case, the first servant would be desperate to collect all he could as soon as he could from others.
The idea that someone would simply forgive an enormous debt without any expectation of repayment is actually hard to get our minds around. It seems like one of those “too good to be true” offers that will come back to haunt us later. For many believers, grace has the same feel. Many of us still live before God thinking that somewhere along the line, our salvation our security, and his blessings will be based on being better than others. It’s like college entrance exams…only those in the 90th percentile will get in.
When we slip into self-righteousness, we have slipped into a kind of “meritorious salvation.” If I believe I only get the favor of God by being better than most, I will be invested in pointing to my own good qualities and good works while zealously pointing out the failures and flaws of others. That is the nature of judging others and placing them in a psychological category of being less than me. When we can’t be generous in how we deal with the weaknesses and failings of others, we have missed the meaning of God’s grace. If I know that I have been forgiven much, based totally on the goodness of God and the full payment of my debt made on my behalf by the blood of Christ, how could I not extend that generosity to others?
If we are quick to judge, condemn, criticize, and gossip…we probably have not yet taken hold of the true meaning of God’s grace. The belief that we have to prove ourselves better than others to deserve love and favor from God is a huge open door for the enemy. We may want to begin to meditate on grace and ask the Holy Spirit to give us a true revelation of that grace in our own hearts. It is very freeing to know how much God values me without the need to devalue others.