I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
The verse means that a person stays confined until every mite owed has been fully paid. It belongs to a chapter that gives a lesson of great importance for all of God's children about humble, faithful sacrifice for His cause. It is part of a message for people blessed with great light, especially students, rebuking tame and listless striving and calling them to put their whole heart into serving Christ through daily prayer and watchfulness.
Applied to worship, it requires that a house of worship be dedicated to God free from debt, because paying interest on debt is a great loss. It calls for moving out by faith to build not a cathedral but a plain, neat tabernacle in harmony with faith, spending none of the Lord's money on needless adornment, as pilgrims and strangers whose citizenship is above. It calls for devoting that tabernacle to educating and training old and young not to live to please self or to seek praise and human honor, but to guard the heart with vigilance against estrangement from God, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to sacrifice without ostentation or display, to hide self in Jesus, and to walk in self-abasement and lowliness through inward perception of truth and sanctification of the Spirit.
Applied to discipline, the verse warns against treating wrongdoers by insisting on making their case appear as bad as possible and exacting the full penalty, since such harshness can harden them, weaken the influence of discipline, and push them further toward sin. In correcting one at fault, it calls instead for Christlike patience, mercy, and forgiveness that seeks to draw the wrongdoer away from evil rather than to expose or destroy them.
The verse means that a person stays confined until every mite owed has been fully paid. It belongs to a chapter that gives a lesson of great importance for all of God's children about humble, faithful sacrifice for His cause. It is part of a message for people blessed with great light, especially students, rebuking tame and listless striving and calling them to put their whole heart into serving Christ through daily prayer and watchfulness.
Applied to worship, it requires that a house of worship be dedicated to God free from debt, because paying interest on debt is a great loss. It calls for moving out by faith to build not a cathedral but a plain, neat tabernacle in harmony with faith, spending none of the Lord's money on needless adornment, as pilgrims and strangers whose citizenship is above. It calls for devoting that tabernacle to educating and training old and young not to live to please self or to seek praise and human honor, but to guard the heart with vigilance against estrangement from God, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to sacrifice without ostentation or display, to hide self in Jesus, and to walk in self-abasement and lowliness through inward perception of truth and sanctification of the Spirit.
Applied to discipline, the verse warns against treating wrongdoers by insisting on making their case appear as bad as possible and exacting the full penalty, since such harshness can harden them, weaken the influence of discipline, and push them further toward sin. In correcting one at fault, it calls instead for Christlike patience, mercy, and forgiveness that seeks to draw the wrongdoer away from evil rather than to expose or destroy them.