A man maxed out every card.
Loans, late fees, overdrafts—he was drowning.
Hundreds of thousands in debt.
No savings. No plan. Just anxiety and shame.
Finally, the bank called.
He braced for the worst.
But the rep sat across from him, looked him in the eyes, and said:
“It’s cleared. All of it.
No collections. No interest.
Just… start fresh.”
Tears welled up.
He thanked her a hundred times.
Walked out lighter than air.
But not an hour later, he saw a friend who owed him fifty bucks.
He grabbed his shirt and shouted:
“Where’s my money?”
The friend apologized, asked for a little time
but the man called security and had him thrown out of the co-working space.
Word got back to the bank.
They called him in.
“You were just shown mercy beyond measure,” they said.
“And you couldn’t extend a fraction of it?”
So they revoked the forgiveness.
Not out of cruelty,
but because he showed he didn’t understand what he had been given.
✅ Moral:
You can’t receive grace and weaponize grudges.
Forgiveness isn’t a transaction—it’s a transformation.
If it doesn’t flow through you,
it was never truly received by you.
Questions to Reflect On:
- Are you holding a debt over someone’s head that you’ve already been forgiven of yourself?
- Do you believe forgiveness is weakness, or freedom?
- When have you been given mercy you didn’t earn?
- Who do you need to release, not for their sake, but for your own?
Truth is sometimes packaged as rigid, controlling, and closed. To accept a set of beliefs uncritically.
- It says, “Believe this or else.”
- It offers all the answers, demands agreement, and claims sole ownership of what’s right.
- It builds walls, controls behavior, and creates followers.
Real truth, living truth, invites.
It says, “Here’s what I’ve found. What does it stir in you?”
It doesn’t demand answers; it awakens better questions.
It doesn’t try to control you, it helps you remember who you really are.
Let’s seek it together.
Let's honor autonomy.
It doesn’t create followers.
It calls forth image-bearers.