Great debt

He who has been forgiven much loves much in return

"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
Luke 4:47

It makes complete sense. If you are forgiven a lot you feel obligated to love the person who forgave you. Likewise, if you have not been forgiven much, you have no reason to love your forgiver. This seems to be a contradiction. God wants us to love him more than anything, but he wants us to live as sin free as possible. If someone who has been forgiven little loves little, than those who have sinned little should love little.

I believe that we are looking at this the wrong way. Rather than look at how much we sin, look at how much we recognize our own sin. We as humans tend to make distinctions between people based on our levels of sin. Many Christians consider themselves righteous, and they consider others to be sinful or evil. In God's eyes, we are all sinners, and we equally need his forgiveness. If we look at it this way, it is not to what extent we have been forgiven. It is to what extent we realize we have been forgiven. After all, how much would you love if you grossly underestimated the amount that you were forgiven?

I would also argue that this concept plays well into my previous blog. In addition to loving much in return, he who has been forgiven much forgives much in return. If you believe that you have lived a perfect life, you expect others to live perfect lives in your eyes. Their sins are seen unforgivable. If you have committed monstrosities and have been forgiven, you are more likely to forgive others transgressions. Again this is not to say that the more we sin the better Christian we are. On the contrary, the aim is not to sin. However, if we recognize our sins, we become much better Christians for a variety of reasons. For one we are less likely to repeat those sins in the future. For two we would realize how in debt to God we are for his forgiveness and love him more. Finally, after we realize the extent to which we have been forgiven, we will be more likely to forgive our peers.