JESUS used parables to teach us life lessons. We learnt in primary school that parables are heavenly stories with earthly meanings. How many of us have actually taken up the Bible and read a parable? How many of us understand them? The Bible is a guide to help us trod this treacherous path and so we must make it our duty to read it.

This week we learn about ‘The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant’ in Matthew 18:23-35 (GNB). In short, it speaks about a King who, having found out that his servant owed him millions of pounds, ordered to sell the servant and his family to repay it. The servant begged for mercy and time so the King granted it to him.

That same servant later came upon another servant who owed him just a few pounds. Even though the servant begged him for mercy and time, as he begged the King, he had him thrown into jail until he could repay it.

Other servants saw this and were angered, thus reported it to the King who in turn had him thrown into jail until he could pay his millions of pounds in debt. Jesus ended by saying, “This is how my father will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

This parable is easily understood and relatable to most persons. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asked Jesus if his brother keeps sinning against him, how many times should he forgive him. Jesus answered by saying that he should forgive him seventy times seven times. Do the math. 70×7=490. Imagine forgiving someone 490 times when we find it hard to even forgive him/her one time. Take note that Jesus said that one person should be forgiven that amount of time. Not all the persons who sin against you.

Some of us are guilty of being like the servant. God represents the King. The servant represents us. Replace the millions of pounds with the millions of sins that we do each day. Regardless of how little or how big our sins are, God never holds it against us. Once we beg him for mercy, as the servant did, he will release us of our sins. In turn, God expects us to do the same to our brothers and sisters. Once someone hurts us, they run up a debt. It is up to us to not hold it against them, but to release them.

That sounds easy to do, right? In practical situations however, it really isn’t. What we must always remember, is that God forgives us, no matter what we do. Are you not grateful to Jesus for dying on the cross? Refusing to forgive someone means that you do not appreciate that God sent his only son to die for us. You are just as guilty if you say you forgive someone, but secretly don’t. You have to do it from your heart. We challenge you to forgive that person who has done you wrong.

Remember that refusing to forgive does more damage to you than to the person you are to forgive. This means you only hurt yourself, by holding things against an individual. A chip on your shoulder is not that easy to carry. Let your inspiration be your own forgiveness. Let your mantra be: “I’ll forgive, because God forgave me.”