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Then his lord called him in, and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?' His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don't each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.' Matthew 18:32 WEB

When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother in a day, Jesus said seventy-seven times (or 70x7=490 depending on your translation). The pharisees believed not more than three times. Jesus then then told a parable about two men who were both in debt.

One man owed a king 10,000 talents. Now a talent was the highest unit of currency, and ten thousand the highest Greek numeral. This would be like a billion dollars. When the man asked for forgiveness, the king had compassion on him and canceled the debt, letting him and his family go.

The second man owed the first one a hundred denarii, about twenty dollars. That is one-six-hundred-thousandth of the first man's debt. Rather than forgive this man his debt, the first wanted to make him pay for it and had him put in prison.

When word of this got back to the King, he was so upset that he handed the first man over to the torturers to make him pay back the billion dollars as well. Both men ended up in prison and only the one who held the debt could release them, as the king could not release the man who owed the twenty dollars. He did owe it. It was a legitimate debt and the one that he owed it to had to release him.

Jesus said: 'Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you' (Luke 6:37). 'And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us' (Luke 11:4). Our actions cause God to react.

We are required to forgive others in order to be forgiven. This is not really a choice. Jesus made it clear that unless you forgive others, you will not be forgiven yourself. Un-forgiveness is a dangerous game to play. The original text conveys that they were handed over to the 'Tormentors', a torturer that would make them pay in some way. This was not a made-up phrase that Jesus happened to use, it was a stern warning to us.

Many of us are in that jail and do not even know it. We wonder why our life is a living hell, yet we cling to our bitterness like it is all that we have to live for. Let the ones that hurt you go and free yourself from your personal jail. Your life will be so much happier and your mind will be free when you no longer have to track all the wrongs that have been done to you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father I know that I need Your mercy more than ever. Because of You, I forgive those that have done me wrong, I freely release them and let them go. Please set me free from the torturer in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

Note: Happy Sunday! For those attending RHM Live, the message for the week will be "The Birthday of the Church" and will a teaching on practical applications of the Holy Spirit series that we just completed. The service starts at 11am EST, though you are welcome to join us a few minute early to fellowship :). We look forward to seeing you there! Thank you all for being part of Refreshing Hope Ministries, those who pray for us, who support us financially, participate with comments and posts at the online church, or just show up here each day to read the devotional! We are blessed!