Forgive from Your Heart or Pay Up

Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold--along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it,' he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart." Matthew 18:23-35

Meditate. Consider the point of Jesus’ parable.

 

Pay up.
Will these coins cover our debt?

Pay up! I could never understand how the guy was supposed to “pay his debt” while he was in prison? Hmmm. How does that work? No work…no pay. So just where does the money come from? Does he get paid to be tortured? Who is paying?

In this parable, the servant had borrowed millions of dollars! What did he do with that money? Could he sell whatever he had and recoup some of the money to give back to the king? Whatever he used the money for, it was obviously not income-generating, or he would have been able to pay the king back, at least a small amount every month. Is this an example of money being an idol? Remember Jesus taught not to worship money.

"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13

Look at your own life and stewardship. How are you spending…or lending…your money? Are you accountable to God for what He has provided you? How about your attitude towards forgiveness? Are you willing to forgive others for their debts, whether it is financial, psychological, or spiritual? Remember the whole point of this parable was forgiveness. Forgive others, and God will forgive you.

            What do we learn about the character of Jesus from this scripture?

 

Prayer – Lord Jesus, You paid such a high price for my debt. Your life…for mine. Thank You.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

 

© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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