Matthew 18:24-25. When a king who was settling his accounts began the reckoning, a man was brought to him who owed 10,000 talents. Since he could not pay, the king ordered him, his wife and children, and all that he had to be sold and repayment made.

We know this is not the end of the story, but taking this line alone shows us that our God is a just God. He is also, as we will see later in the story, (and more importantly for us!), a merciful God, but He demands that same mercy from us or His justice will reassert itself.

What is justice? A simple definition everyone getting what he what he or she deserves. This man borrowed 10,000 talents and has not made and cannot make repayment. Justice demands a balancing of the scales - the lender must be repaid, the borrower cannot keep what is not his. There is a metaphysical reality to justice. Order, which is the way God created the universe, demands justice. Without it, we fall into lawlessness and chaos. No society can continue when contracts are not honored and valid laws are not equally upheld and applied.

So justice is vitally important, but our God is also a merciful God. The king will give this man a full pardon of his debt when he asks, but that will not last long. When the man then goes out and demands payment from his own debtor, even though his debt has been forgiven, the king will reinstate the debt and deliver him to debtor's prison.

If we are to be God-like, we must temper our justice with mercy, but we must apply our mercy justly, as the king does here. Mercy does not mean we let people take advantage of us or others. When mercy is not accepted properly, our debt again comes due.