Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings

Forever in Debt: Matthew 18:15-35

Focus Passage: Matthew 18:15-35 (NCV)

Later on during Jesus’ ministry, He shares a powerful parable to help support the message that while we are forgiven, we are expected to be forgiving towards each other. In the details of this parable, we discover a king has a servant who has an impossible-to-repay debt. Conservatively, this debt is in the millions of dollars, but it might even extend into the billions.

In some ways, it is easier to calculate this debt in the number of lifetimes it would take someone to repay it, and in the case of the debt the man has in this parable, it would take more than 137 lifetimes to repay. The servant in this parable truly has an impossible-to-repay debt.

However, the king forgives the debt. A simple meeting and a heartfelt plea convinces the king to write off the millions or billions of dollars that were owed. On the surface, it appears as though this servant is now free.

But when we look at the details and place ourselves in the servant’s shoes, while we are not required to repay the debt we previously owed, the gift of kindness places an equally impossible debt on us in the form of gratitude. The debt of gratitude says we should always be forever grateful to God (a.k.a. the King) for repaying our literal debt.

In this scenario, there is literally no way of truly being out of debt – because either we have a debt of sin, or we have a debt of gratitude.

I shared this with some people and was challenged with the idea that we cannot love those we are in debt to. While it makes for a catchy thought, I don’t believe it is 100% true. The fallacy in this thinking is that all forms of debt are equal and that all forms of debt contain equal tension from both parties.

While it sounds similar, I think a more accurate statement would go something like this: You cannot love someone you feel owes you something – but you can love someone who has blessed you more than you could ever repay.

If you are in a situation you could never repay, by definition, you are in debt, but this debt is different because it can only be resolved through forgiveness. While there is nothing we could ever do to repay God for His amazing gift of Jesus on the cross, this tiny detail technically makes us indebted to God.

However, God paid our sin-debt because He loves us, not because He wanted us to be feel forever indebted to Him. God forgives us in order to make it possible for Him to love us. He would have it no other way.

Debts of gratitude are different because the only way we can truly repay them is by paying them forward. God wants us to be so incredibly grateful and thankful for what He has done for us that we cannot help extending forgiveness, grace, and love forward to those we interact with.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Read this article on the web on it's official page: Forever in Debt: Matthew 18:15-35