Anesti Ministries

Humility.

Greatness in God’s Kingdom is not measured by personal success or achievements. Instead, greatness is defined by humility and dependence on God. God does not call us to strive for power and position in His Kingdom but to be like a child. Children have a lot to teach us about our relationship with God.

We are called to love the least and marginalised. Especially those who are unable to do anything for us in return. When we love others, we are loving Jesus. Those who encourage others to sin will face God’s judgment. In verse 8-9, Jesus is using hyperbole and His words are not to be taken literally. Everyone struggles with sin and dealing with sin is not easy because we are denying our fleshly desires. But you can always pray for the Holy Spirit to give you strength to overcome sin.

Children may not have a high value in society but they are precious to God. Those who are deemed worthless by the world are very precious to God. You may feel guilty about returning to God because you are filled with guilt and shame. But God loves you and would do everything to rescue you. God knows that when you are lost, you cannot find your way back on our own. God takes the initiative to find those who are far away from Him.

Reconciliation.

Jesus shows us the Biblical way to resolve conflict. When we are offended, we should not spread gossip or slander behind other people’s backs. We should also not hold it in and bear grudges. We should seek reconciliation for the good of the other person and ourselves. Here is what we should do –

1. Approach the other person with love and gentleness. If you struggle with confrontations, pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom.
2. Bring two other people who can mediate and provide counsel.
3. Bring up the matter to the Christian community. If individuals refuse to listen after all these attempts, they are to be treated as unbelievers. This does not mean that we reject them from the Christian community. Instead we must change our approach with them because they no longer choose to walk with God. We must continually pray and reach out to them in love so that they can be reconciled to God.

During that time, Christians gathered in small groups. Jesus promises that He is there in every gathering no matter how few people attend. Jesus also assures that when His people pray in unity and faith, God hears and will act.

Forgiveness.

How many times should we forgive others? Forgiving someone 7 times is not easy and forgiving up to 490 times seems impossible. But when you struggle with forgiveness, look to God. The first servant owed the master a debt of 10 000 talents. That amount is equivalent to 20 years worth of wages for a labourer. Such an amount would be impossible to repay because of the interest that would continue to accumulate. The only choice left was for the whole family to be sold as slaves. This was a common practice in the Old Testament as a way to repay debts (2 Kings 4:1, Nehemiah 5:4-5). This is a picture of the huge debt that every person owes God because of our sin (Romans 6:23). Even though you and I can never repay this debt, God extended mercy and forgave us. God rescued us from slavery because we had no way to repay our debt.

The servant who was forgiven found another servant who owed him a debt of 100 denarii. This amount is equivalent to 5 months worth of wages for a labourer. The debt that the first servant owed his master was 50 times the debt that his fellow servant owed him. Even though the first servant’s enormous debt was canceled, he was unwilling to cancel the debt his fellow servant owed him. When you find it difficult to forgive, remind yourself of the great love you have received from God. While some people may have hurt you deeply, the sin that each person has committed against God is so much greater. Since we have received forgiveness and mercy from God, we should also forgive others.