Matthew 18: 23-35
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."
In this parable Jesus highlighted the double sided ways of man. The servant was unable to pay his dues and asked his master for forgiveness and more time which was granted to him. Yet the very same servant showed no mercy to his fellow servant who presented an almost identical challenging situation. The first servant either failed to remember the mercy his master had just shown him or he did not relate to the two situations as being similar.
As Christians we need to be merciful and compassionate to others who genuinely require our support when we have the power to do so. We need to forgive as we also expect to be forgiven. We need to treat others as we expect to be treated. We need to loose ourselves of any doubleminded thoughts and ways or else we will give the devil a foothold.
We must not deceive ourselves - we will be held accountable for what we do and in some cases, do not do.