The Lord Jesus taught it over and over again: If I expect to receive God’s forgiveness I have to forgive other people. I can’t hold other people to account and expect to be let off the hook, myself.

God asks me to be merciful to my peers, my fellow creatures, while He is being merciful to me, His creature. He is the Lord and Creator of the Universe, even me.

Of course, what other people have done to me or what they owe me will never be anywhere near what I owe God. Their offenses, no matter how terrible, can never add up to the size of my offenses against Him. If I think that I am already all paid up with God or that He actually owes me something, I haven’t begun to understand the relationship between Creator and creature, or the seriousness of my sin.

Lord, help me to get a true perspective on forgiveness. Fill my heart with mercy, received and given. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles