a prison of our own making
Rev. Rich Leatherberry preached this last Sunday on Matt 18:21-35, a parable on forgiveness. Jesus tells a story about a man who owed an enormous debt to a king that he could never pay. The king forgave him his debt and after being forgiven, the servant went out to find one of his peers who owed him money. Instead of forgiving his peer the debt, he had him thrown in jail for failure to pay. When the king found out, he reinstated the debt and threw the unforgiving man into prison.
Now every time I have heard this I took the position of, I better forgive others or else God won’t forgive me and will “throw me in prison.”
Yesterday, Rich said something that struck me. He painted a picture of a loving God who was trying to get us to align with him in forgiveness because if we do not, we will build a prison of bitterness for ourselves. This inability to forgive will lock us down from being all that God created us to be. It will lock us out of relationships with others and Him.
The prison would be one of our own making. For me it was again good for me to see God as one who just wants to protect us, not a tyrant king looking for the ways we mess up so he can drop the hammer.
There is freedom in forgiveness.
