View the reel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1594650762441862
Scripture to read: Matthew 18:21 to 30
I have screenshots on my phone that I no longer remember taking. Apparently, at some point in my life, this information was important enough that I thought future David absolutely needed a permanent photographic record. Future David has now arrived, and he has no idea what Past David was so worked up about.
We are surprisingly good at keeping receipts on people. Somebody says something that hurts us, disappoints us, embarrasses us, or makes us angry, and somewhere in our brain we open a file. We take a screenshot. Then something happens six months later, and suddenly the whole thing comes back out. “See? This is exactly like that thing you did in March.” And we add it to the file.
Peter comes to Jesus in Matthew 18 with what is essentially a record keeping question: How many times do I have to forgive somebody? At what point am I allowed to say, “Okay, we have reached the limit. I have the documentation.”
Jesus answers with a story about debt. One servant owes a king an amount he could never repay. The king cancels it. Then that same servant walks outside and finds somebody who owes him money, and immediately starts collecting.
What makes the story uncomfortable is that the second debt is real. Jesus never says the man imagined it. Something really is owed.
That is probably where we need to begin too. Today, just notice the debts you are carrying. Who still owes you an apology? An explanation? Respect? Acknowledgment? Money? Changed behavior? Maybe years you cannot get back?
Don’t solve it yet. Don’t talk yourself out of being hurt. Just notice where you are still keeping receipts.
Because we cannot decide what to do with a debt until we are honest about the fact that we are still trying to collect it.