“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

- Matthew 18:32-33

Jesus told this wild and memorable parable about forgiveness. A man owes a king 10,000 bags of gold. He can’t pay and begs for more time to get the money. The king takes pity on him, cancels his debt and lets him go.

The man whose debt is forgiven immediately goes out and finds someone who owes him money – a hundred silver coins. He chokes the man who owes him and demands repayment.

When the king finds out about this, he intervenes (see above).

The entire parable is predicated on the man with the huge debt recognizing what the king had done for him. When we hear about the king’s forgiveness, we expect that man to pay the forgiveness forward to the people who owe him. When we receive mercy, we become agents of mercy. We extend mercy to others.

Now, we know that mercy comes more naturally to some than others. But this expectation that those who have been shown mercy would become agents of mercy is an expectation that supersedes personality.

This is part of the reason that the discipline of confession is so helpful: not because it makes you feel bad, but because it reminds you how good and forgiving God is. Confession of your own faults prepares you to reconcile – not just with God, but also with the people to whom God wants you to extend mercy.

Take a few minutes today to remember the debt you’ve been released from by God. Thank him for his mercy. Then look for opportunities to be merciful today.