In Matthew 18, Jesus tells us about the king who forgave a huge debt owed to him by a servant and then this same servant goes right out and demands instant payment for a small debt owed to him by another servant.

I immediately wonder why the servant would do that? Why wouldn’t he show a small portion of the forgiveness he received from the king to this fellow servant who owed him alot less?

And then I see myself in this parable. I’m reminded that God has forgiven me for everything I’ve ever done wrong and will do wrong in the future.   At the same time, I struggle to forgive those around me for their errors and mistakes.

I love this parable because it convicts me to develop quick forgiveness in my life.  It challenges me to not hold grudges and to forget grievances against those that have hurt me.  It reminds me to erase the list in my mind of bad things that have been done to me and helps me avoid bitterness.

Thank you, dear Father, for reminding me of your never-ending mercy for me.  Please help me show some of that same grace to the people around me every day.

Matthew 18 is the best and simplest conflict resolution help we will ever receive.

It works well in churches and it’s a excellent process to follow wherever we’re dealing with conflict.  Of course there are exceptions, but this process works great with your normal, everyday conflict.

The first step – the people involved in the conflict talk to each other, one – on – one.  When anyone in my office tells one of the supervisors who work for me that they are having an issue with a co-worker,  the first question they will be asked is – ‘Have you talked with that person.”  We call it Adults talking to Adults.(I’d like to call it Matthew 18 but that may scare some people).  It sounds simple but, if you’ve ever worked in an office, it doesn’t happen as often as it should.

That often fixes it – some communication and understanding clears it right up.

If the conflict is still there, we go through our version of the next two steps and the conflict is eventually resolved.

Matthew 18 – pure gold.

Sometimes we wonder.

When we’re in the middle of a crisis,

we sometimes wonder where God is.

We need to remember Exodus 3.  God tells us that he sees,

he hears,

he is aware,

and he will come to our rescue.

Just like he came to rescue the Israelites, he comes to rescue us today.

Thank you, dear Father!

God’s creation reveals his magesty,

it thunders his power,

it bubbles up his splendor,

it reflects his attention to detail,

it sparkles his sense of humor,

it showers his constant provision,

it roars his mightiness,

it beams his faithfulness,

Jesus did only a few miracles in his hometown because of their unbelief.

I think of this scripture everytime I hear someone ask whether Jesus still does miracles today.  Jesus hasn’t changed, he doesn’t change.  We see the same general issues of illness and sin and satanic activity today that Jesus addressed with his miracles in the New Testament.  If we are seeing less miracles, maybe its a matter of unbelief?

Or maybe we need to get better at recognizing miracles when they happen.  When you have prayed for friends who are far away from God and they suddenly start asking you questions about Jesus – that’s a miracle.  Whenever people ask questions about God or religion – you know he is at work.  Its a good thing even if the questions are asked in anger or frustration.   It’s a start.  Something is happening.  And they are coming to you because they know you know God.  They have seen something in your life that makes them think of God so they are seeking you out.

Its just like the four friends in the Bible who brought their crippled friend to Jesus. The crowd didn’t stop them.  They made a hole in the roof and lowered him down so that Jesus could heal him.  They believed and Jesus honored that belief.

We see it over and over in the Bible.  Jesus tells person after person that they have seen this miracle in their life because of their faith.  When we open our believing eyes, we will see all kinds of miraculous things Jesus is doing right here, right now.

Every good thing on earth comes from God.
Several years ago this was highlighted to me when the company I work with invested a large amount of money in a manadatory character-building workshop for everyone. It included two entire days of discussions and sharing ideas of values and character issues.  A huge investment.

Every ‘truth’ they shared during this workshop was based on scripture. I know now that I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was slightly shocked back then.
Those of us in the crowd who were Christ-followers recognized it right away and really enjoyed being paid for 2 days of Bible study and application!  One of my peers who was also attending seminary actually found the scriptures that were the foundation of every ‘key point’ that was made.
I don’t work for a Christian company. I’m sure it wasn’t their intent to pay everyone to study the truths found in God’s word.
But it’s the only truth available.
Because all good things come from God.

The wages of wisdom are more profitable than silver, better than gold.

So these wages are things like:

Making better choices – more good ones, less bad ones.

Setting the right priorities in my life – spending my time and energy on the most valuable things.

Hearing God’s voice daily as he guides me on my next step.

Being successful by God’s definition, not by the values of this crazy culture we live in.

Building a Godly legacy which will influence my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for generations to come.

Gotta love that list – definitely joyful!