Paying Back The Debt
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
If someone wrongs you, there's always an internal, emotional debt. You sense they owe you, and the currency is pain. We want to see them suffer, and so we immediately go after them. This is the natural thing our heart does to try to make them pay the debt.
There're a lot of ways of making people pay the debt. A direct way is to just go yell and scream at them, and they can feel horrible. We may try to ruin them professionally or be incredibly cold to them. We may totally withdraw our friendship from them. There're also less direct ways. One of those less direct ways of trying to hurt them is by destroying their reputation through gossip and slander under the guise of warning people about them. But the most indirect way is that you root for their pain. You want to see them squirm and as you see them suffer, you feel better. That sense that they owe you starts to go down. The debt is being paid down. In a certain sense you get relief, but it will twist you.
When you begin to see that Jesus Christ has totally paid the cost for what you have done rather than making you pay for it, you have the secret to what it means to forgive someone else. Forgiveness leads to healing.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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