Parable of the Wicked Servant – ca. 1620 – Domenico Fetti (1588–1623)
I love how beautifully The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant sums up how important mercy and being merciful is in our relationship with God. (Matthew 18:21-35)
The sum owed by the servant was several times more than the annual revenue of most of governments at the time, so hopefully the listener was shocked into realizing how hopeless his own case is and how forgiving God is.
If you haven’t already, read the passage and look at how this parable is a parallel to our own salvation:
- We are all servants of God
- The unredeemed servants have a debt that cannot be repaid
- Unredeemed servants fool themselves into thinking they have plenty of time to repay the debt
- God’s grace is given to his servants without any merit on their part
- A servant’s failure to act in the same way towards others will cause him to fall
- God’s mercy is 100% revocable if we do not become – and remain – merciful and godly people
Having forgiveness for others might be tough for us sometimes, but we know that Christ went through a pretty tough time for our own redemption.
What was the last situation where you needed to be more merciful to someone?
January 28, 2014
Comments Off on Just How Merciful is God?