Your Debts Have Been Cancelled!
By: Shawn Weaver
“Shawn, I don’t think I can ever forgive myself.” A man recently recounted his story of pain, addiction, and the ensuing mistakes.
Brokenness and failure are feelings that are familiar to us as people. We all wrestle with the guilt and regret of the pain that we caused, many times not really knowing how to resolve the feelings.
In Matthew 18, we see a story of a wicked servant who owes a king lots of money. When called in to settle accounts, the man pleads for mercy. After hearing the plea, the king forgives him the massive debt, only to have the same servant shake down a friend who owes him only a small amount.
It says in the Bible that Jesus always spoke to the people in parables. That means, contrary to our modern age of dumbing down messages, His highest value was not being understood. His goal was to see who was ready to search for His message.
The first thing we look for in this parable is the main characters. God is the King. That means, yes, we are the wicked servant.
We can all relate. Here we find someone who has wronged, and they themselves were wronged. The story defines wrongs as a debt that is unpaid. This is a good way to describe breaks in relationships. It might have started with our parents. People who were commissioned by God to protect, provide, empower, and teach us life. Their main job is to teach us the truth and the ways of being a man or woman of God.
Yet, all have failed at some point or another. Whether they knew what they were doing or not, we needed and are now owed those things. We are owed a debt. Other people may owe us debts as well. Loyalty, respect, and kindness might be some things we feel were not reciprocally given.
Yet, we too are indebted to others. Forgiveness is the canceling of debt. If I cancel someone’s debt of $1000, it doesn’t mean that the feelings of wanting the money go away. Nor do the other person’s feelings of owing a debt go away. However, over time our feelings will align with the truth.
It is the same way with forgiveness of wrongs. The feelings can trick us into thinking that the forgiveness wasn’t real. Yet, forgiveness isn’t about feelings, it is about the canceling of debt. Wouldn’t it be great to cancel our own debts? Yet, God is the King who led the way by canceling our unpayable debt. He is now the only one we owe our lives to.
Shawn Weaver serves as the senior pastor at ACTS Covenant Fellowship and as a driver for NHT Logistics. If you would like to connect with Shawn, email him at shawn.weaver2@gmail.com.
