If I Were a Father…

 

One day I would like to have a big family. First, I must be a faithful husband to my wife. If I have a large family, I will need to be very diligent as a worker so that I can earn enough money to support my family. What is a big family? Well, I would love to have eight children! My first-born son will be named Robby Jr. and my daughter will be named Wendy, which means very beautiful. I will need to buy a double-decker house to provide enough room for all my children. A large family will have lots of fun together!

As a family, I would like to serve God anywhere, in church, foreign countries, neighborhoods, and other places as well. To do that, I’ll teach my children the Bible [including our world view], bring them to church faithfully, and teach them the wisdom of my parents and grandparents. Also, to top it off, we’ll find ways to help the missionaries who were being a witness to those who never heard the story of Jesus: take Tanzania for example. We can do the same in our town.  

And last-but-not-least, I would spend time with my family. I can play games with my kids, teach them how to work hard, and maybe take them on vacation to my dad’s favorite campground – Yogi Bear! I sure hope God will allow me to be the man and dad He wants me to be.

70 x 7 = Forgiveness!

Have you ever been mistreated and wondered how many times you should forgive that person? The same question was asked in Matthew 18, when Jesus told a story to Peter about a king who forgave his servant from a great debt. The same servant was out in the street and saw his buddy who owned him only 100 pence (which was very little). He grabbed him and shouted, "Pay me all that thou owest!" He cried and begged, "Have pity on me and I'll pay thee all!" But he refused to have pity on him and threw him into a prison cell to pay for his debt. 

But that's not the end of the story! The other servants were watching him do this and ran back to the king to report it. And when the king heard all that had happened he was furious. He called that servant up to the throne room. The king said, "Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee of all thy debt but haven't ye showed that to your fellow servant?" He commanded the guards to take him to the dungeon until he pays all his debt.

You see, this parable of Jesus still happens today. We mistreat others sometimes, too. Sometimes it's on purpose and sometimes we don't mean to hurt others. We need forgiveness from God to forgive others. Friend, wouldn't you like to forgive others just as God has forgiven you? First, you must be forgiven from God. This means, you must come to the Lord and receive Him as your Savior. Let Him forgive you from your sin debt. Then you will be able to forgive others, too, even if they don't deserve it. Do we deserve God's forgiveness? No. He freely gives it us so we must freely give it to others.

Peter must have been struggling with forgiveness. He wanted to know how many times he had to forgive. 7 times? No! 70 times 7? If you do the math the answer will be 490 times. Imagine if you could possibly forgive that much!