God's Great Mercy

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........Our family has been doing a study on mercy based on Matthew 5:7. Another passage we have looked at a lot is the parable in Matthew 18:23-35 in answer to Peter's question in verse 21: "Then Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.' " Peter thought that seven times was a lot, but Jesus basically said, "You must forgive whenever it is needed."
....... The parable that follows paints a scene of beautiful love and extreme hatred. .In this parable, the King can be compared to God and the slaves to us humans. Let us picture that we are the first slave, the one that was forgiven by the King, and the second slave is a fellow man that has done something against us. The first slave's debt was so great that he never would have been able to repay it. Now can you imagine, he was just forgiven something he would NEVER have been able to pay, and he went out to another human and threw him in prison because he owed him just a little thing!
........We are just the same, yet we often fail to realize it. We say, "Well, at least I didn't throw someone in prison because he owed me something." No, we may not have literally, but many of us have without knowing it by our words or actions. God has forgiven us an enormous debt, we must be willing and ready to forgive everyone who has harmed us, spoken badly about us, or in another way done something that we do not like.
........These thoughts of God's great and loving mercy ought to humble us. Let us say with Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
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