Listen

Jesus replied, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

“Teacher, speak,” he said.

“A certain lender had two debtors. One owed enough money to pay five hundred people for a day’s work. The other owed enough money for fifty. When they couldn’t pay, the lender forgave the debts of them both. Which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the largest debt canceled.”

Jesus said, “You have judged correctly.”

Luke 7:40-43

Think

We may think that love is related to giving. At Christmastime, the people who love us most may give us the most expensive gifts; they may send us the biggest checks on our birthdays. We might begin to expect more – more things, more dollars – as a sign of how much we are loved.

Jesus says that love is related not to giving, but to forgiving. The lender did not love one borrower more than another; he forgave their debt with equal generosity. But one of them had ten times more reason to be thankful! One of them had ten times more reason to love in return.

We are the grateful recipients of God’s gift of forgiveness – no matter how in debt we are. Whether God forgives us once or ten times, ten or a hundred times, 50 or 500 times, God’s love is beyond counting. God’s generosity is enough to cover us.

But love is related to forgiving: because when we realize how much we have been forgiven, we realize we have countless reasons to love!

Nikki Finkelstein-Blair

Pray

God, you have given me so much, I want to show how much I love you! Lead me to love deeply and forgive generously, just as you have loved and forgiven me. Amen.

Go

God's grace overflows: you are forgiven!

Now open the door in a wide welcome, and offer the same mercy and healing you have received.

The world is waiting to be restored.