The Ungreatful Servant

The Ungrateful Servant (Matthew 18:23-35)

Once there was a servant (we will call him Jim) that owed a whole lot of money to his king. Over a million dollars! But he could not pay it back, and the king wanted it right now! So the king was getting ready to make Jim sell everything he had so that he could pay back something, at least. The king was even considering selling Jim to another king (kings could do that in those days)!

But poor Jim begged the king to forgive him for not being able to pay the money back, and the king felt sorry for him (I guess this king was really a good guy inside, and was just trying to scare Jim so he would learn to manage his money better), so he didn't make the Jim sell everything, and even told Jim that he did not have to pay the money back. Jim was overjoyed, thanked the king, and promised to be more careful in the future.

So Jim went out of the king's house, probably whistling a happy tune and noticing what a lovely day it was that day. But as he was going home, he happened to meet another servant (we will call this servant Fred) who owed him money! Fred didn't owe Jim much, about fifty bucks or so, but Jim would not forgive Fred, and even had Fred thrown into prison (another thing that they could do in those days).

When the king heard about Jim's unforgiving nature, he got real mad at Jim, and called him back to his house where he again demanded his million bucks! Since Jim didn't have the money, and the king was too mad to forgive him this time, poor Jim was sold to another king, and all his stuff was taken from him.

>>> I just post the story here at my blog site because I want everyone who will visit my blog to read this story know why?? As I read this parable I felt the presence of God because even though that I do something wrong I know he eventually forgave me.

>>> also as I read this I remember Jesus told this story to remind us of what we owe God. Since he created us and gave us life, we really owe Him much more than we can ever pay back. But other people are His children, too! If they owe us something, and can't pay it back, or if they have done something to hurt us, GOD wants us to forgive them just like He is willing to forgive us for not being able to pay Him back! And if we don't forgive other people what they owe to us, GOD will not be willing to forgive us what we owe to HIM! We don't want that now, do we?

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