20 Days With the Lord’s Prayer Day 12: He wants us to be merciful.

20 “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus told a parable about a king who decided to balance his books. In this process a servant was brought before the king who owed him a great amount of money. Unfortunately, this man’s debt was much greater than he could repay. Therefore, the king ordered that he, his wife, children, and all his possessions, be sold to pay the debt.

Facing such a terrible plight, the servant begged the king for mercy, promising him that if he gave him more time, he would eventually pay back the whole debt. At this point, the king not only granted him mercy but forgave the whole debt.

Sadly, as soon as the forgiven servant left the presence of the king, he found someone who owed him money and a very different scenario presented itself.

““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.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s hard to believe that this servant who had been forgiven so much, would turn around and do to someone else what he begged not be done to him.

The bad news for this unmerciful servant was that some of the other servants saw what he had done and went and told the king about it.

““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.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As we see, the king then subjected the unmerciful servant to the same judgment he exacted on his debtor. Jesus then offered this commentary on the parable:

““That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

One of the Beatitudes given by Jesus stresses the importance of showing mercy.

“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

James makes clear that the way we are judged will be based on the way we judge others.

“For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Today we consider the portion of the Lord‘s prayer that says, “as we forgive our debtors.” Yes, as we noted yesterday the Lord wants to be merciful to us. But He wants us to understand that His mercy is contingent upon our showing mercy to others.

Indeed, after sharing the model prayer with His disciples, the Lord warned that their forgiveness was contingent upon whether they forgave others their trespasses.

““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Child of God, if we expect the Lord to be merciful to us, we must be merciful to others. Otherwise, we have set a standard that will come back to bite us!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!