St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 35: Forgive from the heart!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 4. 

Pay the torturer.  Christ told his disciples the parable of the settlement of accounts to give them a reference in real life they could understand.  He wanted them to have a complete grasp of the principle of forgiveness.  He wanted them to know the good and bad part of forgiving.  For the Father has forgiven them their transgressions because of his compassion.  Why should they not forgive their brothers and sisters their transgressions since they are forgiven?  Or they could exact vengeance and pay the torturer his due for not forgiving.

This was an important principle for his disciples and for us today.  For we are given from birth that no one should wrongs us.  We are given that we should fight back.  We are given and taught that we should exact our vengeance upon those who wrong us.  We see this daily, in the news, on the TV, in the movies, and we live it in our society .  Yet Christ came along and said that we should forgive those who wrong us.  This is not an easy concept to grasp, not an easy principle to put into practice.  We feel wronged.  We feel vengeance.  We feel compelled to exact revenge.  And Christ tells us that we must let go of those feelings and forgive from the heart.  "So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not each forgive your brothers from your hearts."

What shall we do in the heat of the moment?  Shall we retaliate?  Shall we respond as we feel?  Do we stop and think about what happened?  Or do we think about all the transgressions that we are responsible for against our Father.  How did he respond?  Did he retaliate?  Did he exact vengeance?  Or did he forgive us with love?  We are children of God, created in his image and likeness.  We were not born of darkness.  We came from the tree of life, given physical form that we may live in the physical realm.  Our task on this earth is determined by the understanding of who we are.

Are we alive in the world?  Are we fully committed to living life, being successful, having all that this life has to offer.  Or are we partially committed, wanting all that we see and know but not having the opportunity to gain that which is in front of us?  Are we not committed, angry, willing to take all, by any means, to make us feel what we believe is our right to have?  Our physical desires hide the truth of the spiritual being that we are.  Our passions blind us to the love that our Father has for us.  And our intellect locks us out from the knowledge, the simple truth, that our intellect can not grasp the spiritual being, but the heart knows.

We belong to Christ.  He is our fulfillment.  He gave us new life.  He sacrificed that we might have the choice.  Do we choose the world?  Or do we choose the spirit?  What we see today as spiritual turns us away from ourselves.  For who wants to be spiritual?  Who wants to be religious?  Who wants to be a Bible toting, hell damnation condemning, prophesying, religious person.  That image has been given to us through our personal experiences.  Yet we worship what we do not understand.  The time will come when people will worship God in spirit and truth.  For the Father seeks those who know themselves and worship him in spirit.  For the spirit of Christ will come and abide with those who know.  And it is in the knowing that one understands the truth of who they are.

Our Father is love.  And through Christ Jesus we can become love.  For it is through him and with him and for him that we find our completeness.  The world has no hold.  Sin has no corner.  The light of Christ abides within our hearts and guides the way.  And the completeness of his love overwhelms the soul so fully that nothing else will satisfy.  It is with that knowledge of his overwhelming love that we begin to understand the power of forgiveness.  For we are all one family.  We are all children.  And we all belong to our Father, who provides for us and protects us.  Come!  Let us forgive from the heart.  Let us love with the heart.  Let us become brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 34: Is it Fair? Pay the Torturer!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 3.  

Is it fair?  Is it fair that what was given to you as a gift should not be passed on to others?  Is it fair that what was given to you as a gift should be kept to yourself?  Is it fair that the forgiveness that was shown to you should not be shown to others?  Christ told his disciples that for those who do not forgive what was forgiven them will pay a price.  For the Father will be angry.  The Father will take back.  The Father will exact a penalty to those who do not believe in his compassion.

Through the example of the parable Christ taught his disciples the power of forgiveness.  He showed them the principle that the Father has established for those who forgive and for those who do not.  Have compassion upon those who wrong you, for the Father has had compassion on you.  Be forgiving of those who have hurt you for the Father has forgiven you.  Be loving of those that you do not love for the Father has loved you even when you did not love him.  Remember the torturer who will exact the penalty, is what Christ taught his disciples.  "And his master, being angry, handed him over to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him."

Why should we remember the torturer?  Why should we become fearful  of the consequences?  After all, we are the ones who were wronged.  We are the ones who were hurt.  We are the ones who suffered the offense.  And this is what Christ wanted his disciples and us today to understand.  The Father was hurt. The Father was offended.  The Father was wronged.  Yet he forgave.  He overlooked.  He did not exact punishment upon us for all the transgressions that we did against him.  For he is the judge.  He is the jury.  He sets the punishment for all.  And we do not understand that despite all this that there is still love in him.

For he loves us.  He sees that we do not see.  He knows that if we knew all, we would not do the things that we do.  But it is the world that hides the truth.  It is the world that deceives.  It is the world that would deny us the love of the Father.  It is the world that would have us pay the torturer.  Is it fair to be forgiving?  Or is it love that we should know.  For from the love that is in us through Christ Jesus, we learn the truth of who we are.  It is from the love of the Father that we can begin to see who we are and begin to know the truth of the world we live in.

Fear not the torturer, but seek the love of who you are in Christ.  For when we see ourselves as we are, in him, then we are able to see others also.  And the love that is in us, is in our brothers and sisters also.  Forgive them.  Love them.  Help them to understand that they too are loved.  Help them to understand that they too are provided for.  Help them to understand that they too are protected.  And help them to understand that they too can dwell in the completeness that is in Christ Jesus through God our Father.  The truth awaits you.  Come!  Seek to know who you are in him.  He has given me my sight.  He has given me my joy.  He has given me my love.  And he will do the same for you.  Ask and you will know.  Seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened and the Holy Spirit of the Lord will come and be with you.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.   

St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 33: As I Forgave All!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 2.  

How hard it must have seemed for the disciples who were told that they must forgive seventy times seven.  How hard it must have been to understand what Christ was telling them.  They, who had lived by the law, an eye for an eye, had to make a 360 degree turn around in their thinking.  They had to bury their anger.  They had to forget about vengeance.  They had to turn to forgiveness.  They had to love their enemies.  This is like telling a wealthy person that they have to give up all their wealth and privilege.  But this was the concept that Christ was preaching.  This was the belief that Christ wanted his disciples to grasp, to understand, to know.

So he told them the parable to help them understand.  He told them about the "Wicked Servant" who would not forgive even after he was forgiven by his master.  And this was the principle that he wanted them to understand, they are forgiven by their Father as they should forgive each other.  Here is the question he posed to them:  "Shouldst not thou also have had pity on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?"

I had pity on thee.  God the Father has pity on us as we struggle to live, to survive in this world.  We know not the things that we do.  We understand not the life that we live.  We see not the influence upon us.  We hear not the words that come to us.  Yet we struggle to survive, to live.  Some would say: "I struggle not."  Some would say: "I enjoy my life."  Some would say: "I have more than enough to enjoy this life."  Yet, what has it cost us?  What have we sacrificed?  What transgressions have we made to get to the point in life that we are?

Some are in the world.  Some are from the world.  Some are outside of the world.  And some do not belong to the world.  For the world would have us sleep.  The world would have us become unaware of who we are.  The world would have us not know.  And our Father forgave us all our sins.  Should we not forgive others?  Should we still seek vengeance?  Should we still express our anger, our frustration, our dislike when others wrong us?  Or should we consider our Father who forgave us when we wronged him, when we hurt him, when we transgressed against him?  We are quick to exact an eye for an eye because that is how we were raised.  This is the nature our the world we live in.  This is how we were given to feel what is inside of us. 

Christ asked his disciples to make a 360 degree turn around in their thinking, in their feelings.  He asks us today to do the same.  Forgiveness closes the door to hatred, to anger, to vengeance.  Forgiveness allows the spirit to be free.  Forgiveness allows us to love others as we love ourselves.  For if, we know the truth of who we are in Christ, we would love who we are, love who we are like, and love the savior who gave us new life.  And in that love we would find the love for each other, the love for our brothers and sisters, and the strength to forgive.  Our Father, our God is love.  He provides life for all, including the good and the evil.  He forgave all that we might have the opportunity to choose.

Come!  Choose life!  Choose love! Choose forgiveness!  Choose the one who was the sacrifice for your sins.  Choose the one who loves you most!  Choose to know the life that is within you and see the truth of who you are.  For with this knowledge no one or nothing can turn you away from the truth.  And what the world has to offer becomes meaningless to what your father wants to give you.  Seek the truth!  Seek the knowledge!  Seek the love of Christ and open the door to the Spirit of Christ.  Then your eyes will be opened and you will see the truth of who you are in him.  May the love of God our Father, the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you!

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.   

St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 31 - 32: Forgive All!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 1.  

Christ continues to demonstrate to his disciples the need for forgiveness.  The fate of the servant who would not forgive but exacted punishment upon his fellow servants, is used as an example for the disciples.  The kingdom of heaven is similar to this demonstration.  For when the settlement date comes, all will be judged according to whether they were merciful, as our Father is merciful upon us.  The servant was forgiven his debt.  Will we forgive our brothers and sisters their debt?  Will we look upon them with contempt and anger?  Or will we accept them with open arms and forgive them their trespasses?

These are the principles that Christ sought to teach his disciples in this parable.  He wanted them to have a clear understanding of the message.  He wanted them to know why it is important for them to forgive.  Not just one time.  Not just two times.  But as many times as seventy times seven, as many times as it takes.  He wanted them to not be like the wicked servant in the parable.  For the story of the actions of the wicked servant got back to the master.  "His fellow-servants therefore, seeing what had happened, were very much saddened, and they went and informed their master of what had taken place.  Then his master called him, and said to him, 'Wicked servant!  I forgave thee all the debt, because thou didst entreat me."

Are we wicked servants?  Do we entreat our Father to forgive us and then do not forgive our brothers and sisters?  In the heat of the moment, do we remember?  In the midst of the conflict when our passions are high, when we realize that we have been wronged, can we think about what we did to our Father when we wronged him?  Can we make that comparison, our Father forgiving us, to our forgiving our brothers/sisters?  Evil would have us live in the passion.  Evil would have us act upon our feelings.  Evil would laugh at us as we battle our brothers and sisters because they have offended us because they have wronged us.  Evil would not have us step back and think of the love and the mercy that our Father gave us when we sinned against him.

All we would think about is that we were offended.  All we could see is that we must get revenge.  All we could understand is that we were hurt.  These are the things that our emotions would have us act upon.  In an argument, in a fight, in a heated discussion, in an effort to hurt or retaliate, we are fully engaged in what our feelings tells us that we must do.  We do not take a deep breath and step back, to think and to feel from the heart of all the things that we did wrong and how our Father forgave us. 

Our God has forgiven us.  Our God loves us.  Our God is merciful toward us.  For those who seek to know him he is loving.  For those who seek to be with him he is forgiving.  For those who desire to love him he is open armed and welcoming.  He provides.  He protects.  He forgives.  Our past is with us.  Our history is like a movie that plays before us, a witness of all the transgressions that we made against the will of our Father.  He should be mad.  He should be angry.  He should exact punishment.  Yet he is merciful and forgiving.  Should we face the day of settlement, our history would certainly condemn us to eternal damnation.  Yet we entreat the compassion of our Father to forgive us of all that we have done.

Be not the "Wicked Servant."  Be not the unforgiving.  Step back and open the heart to that which was given to you.  Seek to become like Christ and understand the love of the Father toward you and toward all your brothers and sisters.  We are all his children.  He created us.  He gave us life.  It is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus that we have new life, a new beginning.  Come!  Rejoice in what is before you.  Seek the knowledge of who you are in Christ and you will know the truth.  If the eye is sound then you will see the light that is within you.  And then you will know the truth and the love that the Father has for you.  Open the door to your heart and let the Holy Spirit come in.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.