The Unmerciful Servant

The parable of the unmerciful servant(Matthew 18:21-35) teaches a clear lesson of mercy and forgiveness. Jesus tells Peter that he must forgive always(seventy times seven) and must forgive no matter how large the transgression. The lesson of this parable is simple to see, but hard to carry out. Someone might ask does this mean that Christians are called to be pushovers and let people walk over them. When I asked this question to the Sunday School class someone pointed out that often we treat God as a pushover who will forgive no matter what and we take advantage of that mercy. I think that God will forgive sin no matter how large the sin. I also think that people take advantage of that grace. We are not only like the unmerciful servant who does not forgive as he was forgiven, we also continue to run up an immeasurable debt. So if God continues to forgive and allow such evil people to go on living is he a pushover? Of course he is not a pushover as the person who stated this to begin said "God is fearsome." We should never forget how fearsome and just that God is. Sin will not go unpunished and will be punished exactly as it should be. God's wrath will either be poured out upon the sinner himself or it is poured out on Christ. There is no third option to this situation. If this is kept in mind Christians can handle times they are wronged much better. If someone sins against me I know that God will punish that sin. I should want that person to repent and have faith in Christ and escape God's wrath for their sin. If the person does not repent then God will avenge the wrong committed. Paul addresses this in Romans 12 when he quotes the Old Testament verses concerning how to handle evil. He quotes Proverbs in Romans 12:20 "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head". This seems like a strange way to treat people, if they are bad to you then you should be good to them. This is how God treats the world, the world rebels against God and yet he continues to sustain life and bless the people of this world. So I must remember that no matter what someone has done to me, it is not as offensive as what the world does to God and I should be humble enough to be kind to people that offend me. I can also satisfy my desire for revenge with the thought of "burning coals on his head".