December 10

"Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?"—Matthew 18:33.

THE unforgiving man is forgetful. He has lost sight of that great debt of ten thousand talents, which God has remitted him. He is living in strange unmindfulness of it, in strange ingratitude for its cancelling and removal. If it were in his thought at all, how could he be so harsh with his neighbour?

The unforgiving man is blind. He does not perceive those crowding and thronging multitudes of mercies which are being heaped on him every hour; "moments come quick, but mercies are more fleet and free than they." If he understood these innumerable benefits, how could he be so cruel?

The unforgiving man is foolish. He is depriving himself of precious treasure that might easily be his—the love of his brothers and sisters, their thankfulness, their prayers, their help. If he estimated this enriching boon at its true value, he would never act as he does.

The unforgiving man is suicidal. He is shutting himself out from heaven; for in its atmosphere the overbearing temper and the unrelenting heart cannot live. His lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors; . . . so shall also My Heavenly Father do. It is a doom, a poverty, a banishment, not to be contemplated with calmness. If he considered it, he would be quick to pardon and eager to love.

My Lord, keep me from the folly of the unforgiving man. Teach me to cover my neighbour's sin, and thus I shall cover my own. After the pattern of Thy great charity, let me put away from me all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and railing, with all malice.