It is the same with us, although hopefully our repentance is better than this man’s. We hear God’s warning that he will call us to account, and we will have to face the consequences of what we have done – judgment and everlasting punishment. We will be thrust from his presence and grow old without him. We know that we cannot please him with good character and works, because we have none that are truly acceptable to him. We lack spiritual depth, and we are shaken. Sometimes like him, we seek mercy. He realised his foolishness and says, ‘Have patience. I will slave night and day to get things right.’ This is our instinctive response when we first understand the seriousness of our condition. We cannot conceive any other way that our debt to God can be paid, except that we should pay it. Though it is not feasible, we are ready to say to God, give me time and I will repay all. Anything would be better than the immediate judgment we know we see is coming.
Let us not come to this realisation too late. Once we have gone from this world and stand before the judgment seat of Christ unforgiven, we will indeed have to pay all (Matthew 5:26), and it will take us all eternity to do so.