The Obligation of the Forgiven

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
–Ephesians 4:32

Why forgive? Forgiveness is the obligation of the forgiven. That’s what we see in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18. The king forgave one of his slaves of a massive debt, but that slave turned around and refused to forgive his fellow slave of a much smaller debt. When the king heard what had happened, he handed over the first slave to be tortured. How did the king find out about the unforgiving slave? The other slaves told him. When they saw a forgiven person refusing to extend forgiveness, they knew there was something fundamentally wrong with that.

The relationship between the king and the first slave is a picture of God’s relationship to us. God is willing to forgive all our debts. But the relationship between the first slave and the second slave is a picture of our relationship to people who wrong us.

Now, the small debt that the second slave owed the first slave was just as legitimate as the massive debt that the first slave owed the king. The first slave had a legal right to receive his money back from the second slave, but he had no moral right to it, considering the great forgiveness he had just received. Forgiveness is the obligation of those who have been forgiven.

Has God brought to your mind somebody who has hurt you deeply? It might be a parent who abused you, a mate who abandoned you, a business partner who cheated you, a friend who betrayed you, or a stranger who injured you. Whatever the offense, Jesus was not denying the reality of that hurt or telling you to sweep it under the rug. Jesus was asking you to keep that hurt in perspective. As you consider what your offender did to you, think about what you have done to God. The debt you owe to God is massive compared to the debt your offender owes you. If you are a Christian, then God has forgiven you. Will you choose to forgive?

The apostle Paul said it this way in Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” That’s the best argument I know of for forgiveness.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Forgiveness on Trial,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2015.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.