Watch the Reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1401491305469105
Scripture to read: Matthew 18:28 to 35
Sometimes I think we resist grace because we assume grace requires us to develop a very selective case of amnesia. Somebody hurts us deeply, and the Christian response is apparently supposed to be, “What hurt? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Everything is wonderful.” Like we had been “flashy thinged” from Men In Black.
That is not what happens in Jesus’ story.
The king knows exactly what the servant owes. Jesus gives us accounting language. There are accounts. There is a debt. Somebody has been keeping track. Then the king chooses to cancel what is actually owed.
The same thing is true of the second servant. He really owes money. Jesus does not tell us that the first servant misunderstood the situation or should have convinced himself that $19,700 was basically nothing. The debt matters. The first servant has actually lost something.
That helps me because grace does not require us to say, “It didn’t hurt.” It does not mean trust instantly returns. It does not eliminate appropriate consequences, healthy boundaries, or somebody else’s need to change.
Grace can tell the truth.
The question is what we are going to do with the truth once we have told it.
So go back to the debt you noticed yesterday. (If you missed yesterday, start today. There is no devotional truancy officer coming to your house.)Today, ssk a slightly different question: What did this actually cost me?
Name the loss honestly before God. Maybe it cost trust. Maybe a friendship changed. Maybe you lost money, time, reputation, an opportunity, or something you cannot recover.
Then ask Jesus, “What would grace look like here?”
We are not trying to forget what happened. We are learning whether it is possible to remember without spending the rest of our lives trying to make somebody pay.