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The children and Mother and Father were on their way home from church. Debbie bounced up and down in the back seat of the car. "Mom," she said. "In Sunday School today our teacher told us that Jesus said we should forgive each other seventeen times…"

"Not seventeen," said Randy. "Seventy times seven. That's hundreds of times, isn't it, Dad?"

"Yes," Father answered. "The Lord Jesus has forgiven us many more times than that. So we should certainly forgive one another."

"Our memory verse was a long one," said Debbie. "I can say just the first part of it. 'Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…"

"…just as God through Christ has forgiven you," Randy finished. Then he said, "I guess the servant that we heard about in our lesson today didn't know that verse. 'Cause he sure was mean."

"Tell us about it," said Mother.

"Well," Randy began. "There was a servant who owed the king a lot of money. The servant cried and begged the king to forgive him.

"So the king did. But the servant was a bad man.

"He went and found another man who owed him a little bit of money. And when the other man couldn't pay him, the servant caught him and put him in jail."

"That servant didn't forgive even one time," said Debbie. "And he wasn't kind at all."

"No," said Randy. "So the king put that bad servant in jail.

"Do you think the servant felt sorry after awhile, Mom?"

"I hope so," Mother answered as they reached home.

"And let us remember that the Lord Jesus is our King. He has forgiven us of all our sins, and we must forgive each other too."

After lunch, Peter came over to play. "Look what I've got for you, Randy," Peter said, giving Randy a small red truck.

"Mother said I could give it to you because you gave me your Bible storybook."

"Oh, thank you, Peter," Randy said. He smiled as he began to wind up the truck. "Let's watch it go."

"Don't wind it too much," Peter said. "It might break."

The children watched the truck run across the floor.

"Let me wind it," Debbie begged.

"No," said Randy. "You might break it."

After awhile Randy put the truck away in his room and they all went outside to play.

But Debbie couldn't forget the truck. Soon she ran back into the house. She went into Randy's room and picked up the truck.

"I know how to wind it," she told herself.

She turned the winder one, two, three times. Then she turned it again and put the truck on the floor.

"Zoom," went the truck, heading straight for the wall.

"Oh! Oh! Stop!" cried Debbie, running after the truck. But Debbie was too late. The truck crashed against the wall. One front wheel broke off.

"Oh, I've broken Randy's truck," Debbie said with a sob.

Just then Randy came into the house. "Debbie, come out and play with me," he called. "Peter's gone home."

Debbie picked up the truck and the wheel. She was crying.

"Look, Randy," she said. "I was playing with your truck and it broke. I'm sorry, Randy. Please forgive me."

Randy frowned. His face looked cross. "No, I won't forgive you," he said. "I told you not to wind it, and now you've broken my new truck."

"I'm sorry, really I am," Debbie said. "Maybe Dad can fix it. Please forgive me, Randy."

"No," said Randy. He sat down on the floor and tried to put the wheel back on the truck. "Go away, Debbie," he said.

Debbie didn't go away. She sat down beside Randy. "Jesus said to forgive seventeen times…" she began.

"Seventy, NOT seventeen," Randy said crossly.

"Well, have you forgiven me that many times, Randy?" Debbie asked.

Randy thought for a minute. "I guess not, Debbie," he said. "But I don't WANT to forgive you."

"Then you are just like the bad servant," said Debbie. "I told you I am sorry. But you won't forgive me."

Randy was quiet for awhile. He remembered that Jesus had forgiven him. He thought of the many times that Mom and Dad and Debbie had forgiven him. At last he said, "I forgive you, Debbie. I know you didn't mean to break my truck."

Then the children took the truck and went to find Father.

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The memory verse for this lesson reminds you to be kind. It is a good reminder, and will fit in well with the other verses you have worked on.

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Jesus told his disciples about a king who had many servants. One of his servants owed the king a great sum of money— millions of dollars.

When the king asked the servant to pay him, the servant said, "I cannot pay you." Then the king commanded that this man, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay his debt.

The servant fell down before the king and said to the king, "Please give me more time and I will pay you all that I owe you."

The king felt sorry for this servant and he forgave him all that great debt! Just think! This man owed the king millions of dollars and the king forgave it all.

Do you know what this servant did? He went out and found a poor man who owed him a little money—just a few dollars. He grabbed this man by the throat and said, "Pay me all that you owe me."

The poor man did not have any money. He fell down at the servant's feet and begged him saying, "Have mercy on me. Give me a little more time and I will pay you all that I owe you."

But the wicked servant would not have mercy on this man. He put him into prison.

Wasn't this mean of the wicked servant? He had been forgiven a great debt, yet he would not forgive this man a little debt. When the other servants saw what the wicked servant had done, they told the king about it.

The king was very angry when he heard how mean this servant had been. He sent for the servant and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you a great debt. You should have been kind to that poor man. You should have forgiven him." The king commanded that this wicked servant be put into prison.

What is Jesus teaching here? Jesus is teaching us that we have been forgiven many, many sins by our heavenly Father. Because God has forgiven us so much, we should forgive others for the things they do against us. (See Matthew 18)

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