Pastor Ed Moreno

By Pastor Ed Moreno

Why is forgiving others so difficult for humans to do?  Forgiving others should be relatively easy for believers to do, because we, of all people, know how much forgiveness has been extended to us through Christ, right?  And, yet, we seem to have just as much trouble forgiving those who have sinned against us as unbelievers do.

Jesus talked a lot about humans forgiving other humans.  Peter thought he got it when he asked Jesus if we should forgive a repeat offender seven times.  This was up from the four times prescribed by the Rabbis, so Peter probably thought he’d get commended by Jesus (Matthew 18:21-22). But Jesus said, “No, seventy-times seven would be more like it.”  By that he meant: Just keep on forgiving.  After all, isn’t this what our heavenly Father does for us?

You know the parable Jesus went on to tell.  He said (to paraphrase), “The President and CEO of a large company found out that one of his V.P.’s embezzled a ‘zillion’ dollars (i.e., an amount he could never hope to pay back).  So, the big boss was going to throw the book at the V.P.  The V.P. knew he was finished.  There was no getting out of this mess.

But feeling the full weight of his wrongs, and the reality of the consequences he deserved and was about to get, the V.P. breaks down and is sincerely remorseful.  In this state he falls to his knees, confesses his guilt, and begs for mercy.

To everyone’s surprise, the big boss feels compassion; lifts the V.P. to his feet; and tells the man that he is going to forgive his entire debt.  The big boss will suffer great personal loss by doing this, but he lets the guy go anyway.

One would think that after being forgiven an unpayable debt, that the V.P. would feel obliged to readily extend such mercy to those who (by comparison) committed minor offenses against him.  But he didn’t.

The big boss found out about this, reversed his decision and held the V.P. accountable for all his offenses (Matthew 18:23-35).

There are many lessons to be drawn from Jesus’ parable.  We’ll just share one:

Mercy is supposed to beget mercy, according to Jesus.  If humans want mercy, we should show mercy.  If we want grace, we should extend grace.  Those who show no mercy, and who are unforgiving, will receive back in like kind – from both God and man.

New Day Christian Church meets Sundays at 9:30 and 11 a.m.  They are located at 7155 Hamner Avenue, at Schleisman Road, next to the Fire Station.  For more information, call (951) 278-8367, or visit http://www.newdaycc.net.