| 1:59 MIN READ |

Pay day is the day you get what’s coming to you. It’s the day you receive compensation for what you’ve done.

Most often, we think of pay day as a very good thing. When you have a job, you expect to get paid for the work you’ve performed. Pay day is that day.

However, in the arena of relationships, pay day can take on a whole new meaning. It becomes a part of dealing with hurts and offenses. It’s an internal decision to make someone pay for the pain they have caused you. We think, and sometimes say to the offending person, “Your day’s coming!” It’s called revenge, a grudge, retaliation.

Jesus gave a story in Matthew 18 about the right way to deal with relationship pain. He described a servant who owed a king millions of dollars. The king called in the loan, but the servant had no means to pay. This servant begged for time and mercy, and the king graciously forgave all the man’s massive debt.

Then the story takes an ugly turn. The forgiven servant left the king’s presence and immediately headed to the home of another servant who owed him a few hundred dollars. He grabbed his fellow servant by the neck, choked him, and demanded immediate repayment, offering no mercy or debt forgiveness. The greatly forgiven man refused to forgive a significantly lesser debt. When the king heard about it, he called the first servant back, sentenced him to prison, where he was tormented, all because of a merciless heart.

Jesus concluded the story with these words found in Matthew 18:35 (NIV) “This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Think about your life for a moment. How has God handled the great debt your sin created with Him? He sent Jesus to pay for it so that you could be forgiven. Our responsibility is to extend the forgiveness God has given us to others. Let’s stop making others pay for their failures toward us. Let’s give people the same forgiveness God freely and graciously gave us!

Pastor Dale

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