Countless people go before God and confess to some priest, or repent in a shallow way. Having done so, they feel better but have not secured the forgiveness of God. They have not come because they are desperate for the forgiveness of God. Be sure you know why you pray to God and what your motive is. We are described here in this parable and it gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves and see if we too fall short of true sincerity. This man had a great debt and yet he was not ashamed. We are full of pride and have a track record of greed. It is no good repenting unless we are ashamed and have offended God and are ready to admit it.
He was ruled by his self-indulgence, and he would not give any of it up. We indulge in lewd and wrong and selfish things, and they have got us in their grip. We are not going to give them up. We are in the grip of them.
Why did he let his debt get so out of control? Maybe others were doing similar things. We also imitate those around us, and comfort ourselves that we are in good company. I spent years sneering at God, and felt perfectly safe. By my reckoning, I did not owe God anything. So I did not feel guilt and that I did anything wrong. I was so proud of myself.
Then again he did not think there would ever be a day of reckoning. ‘There is no day of judgment. What is all this that is in the Bible.’ We are created by God, and God is holy. Perhaps his wife got an inkling and warned him what would happen. Maybe he answered, ‘You have no idea what I do for the king.’ He talked up what he did and overestimated his value to the king. But the king saw it for what it was. We do a few good deeds and have a few nice traits, and we talk this up. ‘I do much more good, than bad.’ Do you reason like this? In God’s view our sins far outweigh the good. All our righteousness is as filthy rags. If he imagined that king would set a high value on this, he was making a big mistake.