A king had a great servant. He made a small mistake. The king therefore ordered him to be fed to his trained dogs. Terrified, the servant asked for a reprieve of ten days. During this time, the servant fed and cared for the dogs and was very good to them.

When he was now thrown in with the hungry dogs as punishment, they licked his feet.

The king was visibly irritated. The servant answered him calmly: “Your dogs have not forgotten my brief care. You, king, on the other hand, have rejected my years of loyal service because of a small mistake.” Now the king was ashamed and set the servant free.

How quickly do we judge our neighbour on the basis of a small mistake even though we have already received a great deal of good from him. How strongly do we allow ourselves to be mirrored and weigh our words and actions?

What do you learn from this story?

Applicable Bible text: Matthew 7:1-6