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."
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.
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