Sept 26

Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! 23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded.30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”


A shadowy image appears on the television screen. His voice warbles oddly, and a line of type scrolls across the bottom of the screen: Manny (not his real name) is speaking on condition of anonymity. His image and voice have been altered to protect his identity. "I had it made. Money, car, apartment in town, house in the suburbs. I'd gotten into a little debt-OK, so it was a lot. Millions. I'd kinda 'borrowed' it from the company, if you know what I mean." The shadowy figure shifts in his chair. "My boss found out, told his boss. Eventually it got all the way to the top. So the owner of the company called me in, told me he wanted the money I took. I says, 'I ain't got it right now. But I'll pay it back, honest.' "Then he tells me he could send me away for a very long time and have my family thrown out into the street. I told him, 'Look, I'll do anything. I'll pay back every cent-with interest. All's I need is a little time.' "The big boss stared at me for a long time, not sayin' nothin'. Finally he says, 'Tell you what. I'll give you a break. I'll forget all about the money. You walk outta here a free man. Just don't try somethin' like that again.' "I couldn't believe it! He let me off the hook-" the man snapped his fingers just like that! I walked outta his office like I was walkin' on air! "When I got out into the boss's reception area, I saw Mike Kennedy, a guy I used to work with. I says to Kennedy, 'I want the two thousand you owe me,' and he says, 'I can give you some now and the rest in a few weeks.' I says to Kennedy, 'That ain't good enough.' I told him if he didn't get all the money to me by the end of the day, I'd ruin him. I figured he had it-he was just holdin' out on me, you know? "Well, it turns out the boss's secretary heard me talkin' to Kennedy, and next thing I know, the boss calls me back into his office. He says, 'Didn't I give you a break? a million-dollar break? But after I show mercy to you, you go out and refuse to have a little mercy on Kennedy. Well,' he says to me, 'the deal is off.' Next thing I know"-the camera pans out to show a background of prison bars behind the anonymous story teller-"I'm wearin' an orange jumpsuit and makin' license plates. "Wanna know the funny part?" the man asks without a trace of humor in his voice. "Kennedy got my old job!"

REFLECT: What do you think the story above and Jesus' parable teach about the benefits of showing mercy to others?

PRAY: "God, you have forgiven me for so many sins. I ask you now to help me forgive... for..."

i remember hearing this last week or so from someone....forgive me for not remembering who..anywhoo!
the devotion and the verses were pretty much the same. someone of high authority forgives someone that has done something wrong and lets them off the hook, but the forgiven people dont forgive those that have done the same thing as they had. in some ways that seems to be a hypocritical act. i realize that this is us...we are the forgiven people that are forgiven from God but we dont forgive those that have wronged us as well. i dont know if that makes sense...kind of wordy but todays devotion is a good example of our own behaviour. God forgives our sins, but we dont forgive others. we will get punished for that, one way or another.
thats it for today! baii~

Seems like the theme these days is forgiveness.
I pretty much got the exact same message as Christine.
How can we expect to be forgiven by God if we don't forgive others? Just because God let you off the hook doesn't mean that he has completely forgotten about your sin. It is still very fresh in the Lord's memory and if someone of great power such as God was merciful enough to forgive you, shouldn't you do the same to others?
See you guys Saturday!

Let's not cheat Jesus of what he gives us. If he gave us all these wonderful things, we were made to take a tenth of it, and pass the rest down along the line, so that the others may do the same. We tend to take the whole "everything Jesus gives is just for you" thing a tad bit too much, and forget to pass it down the line, and tell others that they get the same treatment from Jesus as we do. Jesus loves everybody equally, so for those he simply didn't reach at the moment, he probably wants us to take the step and give them the gospel, and share what we have.

After all, Jesus is something that we get more of the more we give.

You must forgive for others have forgived you....I heard that from somewhere.....well, I remembered the "forgive seventy times seven" verse when I was littler. I actually thought that you can stop forgiving after 490 times but later I started to under stand what the real meaning was behind it. Have and show compassion to others as they may do the same. Don't expect anything in return though....for the real reward comes from God to the ones who have followed what God wants for us to all do. Put yourself in their shoes. It not always easy to forgive but have God to help you understand. Don't keep track of how many times you've done favours for that person but continue to love them the same and show that same kindness and mercy that the Lord has shown us.

York region district doesn't have school this friday.......yippee!

Recently this week we have been talking about the concept of whatever we do to others, we will recieve back. Do to others as you would want them to do to you. pretty much it....
Rememeber hearing this passage of how if we are shown mercy from someone, we should pass that mercy along to others and show them mercy as we were shown mercy before.
pretty short but passage was straight-forward
Gnite

I always liked this story. It's a little cruel but it really hits you!
HOW can we ask God for things, but upon receiving, not do the SAME things for others?
We ask God for forgiveness, yet can't forgive others?
We ask God for love, yet we can't love others?
It's all about doing things to others that God does for us!
Be Christ like! Have godly traits
It's a hard hard thing to do!

oh lawdy, got a lot of catching up to do...
breaking bad is taking over my life

This devo is one we should always keep in mind. As Christians, we are always supposed to be working towards being more like God. This is one of the most important traits that we should try to imitate. We did not deserve any of the freedom we have today. We didn't just owe God money or material stuff, but we owed him our lives as penalty for our sins, but he let us off the hook. Jesus received the death penalty in our place, and so, we must do unto others as he has done to us. The little debts that people owe us are nothing compared to how much leeway God gave us when he sent Jesus, so always keep that in mind.

AHA. I SEE. I did not send my devo in or ..something. Anyway it isn't here.
I remember the first time I heard this story.
I don't remember why exactly, but I guess I could relate to this story and so it hit me hard.
I realized, "Wow, that's so true. How can I be so impatient and unforgiving to people around me, when I am constantly asking for forgiveness and patience from God?"

Even now, it's still so hard to do. It's hard to forgive someone and it's hard to let things slide but I try because in the back of my mind, this story has always been reminding me.

Being merciful shows a great aspect from God.
Being able to forgive, especially when we are ETERNALLY forgiven, is still difficult.
But it shouldn't be... should it?
This parable is a prime example of learning how to forgive.
God shows us how its done... BY ACTION.

This devotion was basically like the previous one and gave me the same message.
I guess the verses cant stress "showing mercy" enough.
Show mercy, we will be shown mercy,
dont show mercy, dont expect to receive mercy from others.
God forgave us so many sins and even gave up His son for us, we should be thankful and ask God for what we should forgive in our lives.