Day 22 – Saturday
Matthew
18:21-35
God of Mercy, we seek your mercy. We are
lost without your mercy!
Some days, we presume upon your mercy by
acting in selfish and destructive ways while expecting to escape the
consequences of our actions. Forgive us for such presumption.
Other days, we are deeply conscious of the
great gap between your holiness and our pitiful efforts at faithfulness, and we
plead for your mercy, knowing we cannot pay our debts to You, knowing that our
very lives are at stake. And you forgive in ways that exceed our wildest
expectations. You restore us to favored places as your covenant partners.
Yet, we turn around and refuse to act in
merciful ways towards our neighbors. We hold all of their sins against them as
a way to control and diminish them. We keep track of every personal offense and
every dollar owed, as though all were written in a permanent ledger. We harden our hearts
toward both silent and clearly voiced pleas for forgiveness.
Forgive us God! Transform us! Enable us to
act in merciful ways, just as You have acted toward us. We cannot do so without
your help, so we ask in humility and hope. Amen.
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