Forgiveness

At church we have been talking about the Lord's Prayer. I have really enjoyed teaching and learning more about this order of prayer God has given us. Sunday and Wednesday we talked about "Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us." (Emphasis mine) This morning in my devotion I was reading the parable of the Unforgiving Servant. This story really grabbed my heart and challenged me to do an invetory on my feelings toward others. In both cases (The Lord's Prayer and this parable) Jesus is teaching us that God doesn't give to us what we are not giving to others. If we are unforgiving to others emotional rollercoasters then God will be unforgiving to ours. For some reason we have this mentality that we can treat others any way we want and God will still treat us with goodness and love. Well if the parable is right, and I believe it is because Jesus was teaching it, the master who had forgiven the man of his debt went back and threw the man to the torturers until he would pay. God is a merciful God, I understand that...but God expects us to treat others the way He treats us...with love, respect, AND forgiveness. God Bless.