Judge Dredd

Have you ever been driving and made a mistake that almost caused a wreck? If you have, you are certainly hoping for mercy at that time. Have you ever been in that same situation and then become irate just minutes later when someone cuts you off? This reminds me of the movie Judge Dredd where Sylvester Stallone says “I am the law!”

The story of the servant who owed a great debt to the king reminds us of how to offer grace to others (Matthew 18:21-35). The king was collecting from all people who were indebted to him. The servant owed a large sum of money…and the king was about to sell off the man’s family to settle his debt. The servant pleaded with the king to give him more time to pay the king back…and the king decides to cancel his debt! The servant goes out and demanded one of his fellow servants repay him a small amount of money…when the fellow servant could not, he was thrown in prison by the first servant. When the king heard about the first servant’s unwillingness to extend the grace that had been offered to him, the king had the first servant thrown in prison.

Too often, we think we deserve to judge who deserves to receive grace. If you ask how often you should extend grace, Matthew 18:21 tells us to forgive those who sin against us 70 times 7 times (good luck with counting someone else’s sins and maintaining a heart that is in sync with God’s grace…those 2 just don’t go together). Let’s extend the grace God has so freely given to us instead of demanding that people settle their debts (emotional, physical, economical, etc.) with us.