What if You Don't Forgive? “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Mt 18:35).
- ** What should you do when someone sins against you (Mt 18:15a, 21-22)? Why should you both confront their sin (Mt 18:15b; Lk 17:3-4), as well as forgive their sin (Mt 6:14-15; Mt 18:35; Lk 23:34)? Why might both be hard to do? How can both practices be abused and misused unbiblically?
In the parable, who do the main characters represent: king (Mt 18:23), first servant (Mt 18:24-27), second servant (Mt 18:28-30)?
- When someone sins grievously against you, do you remember your debt of "ten thousand bags of gold" that you owe to God that has been cancelled (Mt 18:24, 26-27)? Do you compare yourself with others' sins (1 Cor 15:9; Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 1:15)?
- By using such extreme, exaggerated debt amounts, what does Jesus teach about the scale of our debt to God versus the offenses others commit against us (Mt 18:31-34; Lk 23:34)?
How can you truly “forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Eph 4:32; Col 3:13)? What makes this difficult (Mt 7:1, 3)? How do you evaluate "your heart" (Prov 4:23; Mt 5:8; 6:21; 12:34; 15:8, 18-19)?
- Do you keep a track record of how others have sinned against you?
How can you cultivate compassion for someone who has hurt you? Do you consider their own brokenness?
- How might unforgiveness be “imprisoning” you emotionally or spiritually, even if the other person is not asking for forgiveness?
- * Have you ever thought that you may have also upset the person that you are very upset with?
- * If you don't know from your heart that you're also a sinner (Rom 3:23):
- will you really know how you're sinned against others? Or...
- will you only be aware of how others have sinned against you?
No comments:
Post a Comment