Forgiveness & Prayer

Have you truly, sincerely, and freely forgiven anyone who has done you wrong? (Have you told them so?)

This is so important that it is included in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)!  We ask our heavenly Father to “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (v.12).  Would you or I be happy if God forgave us exactly the same way and only to the same extent that we have forgiven others?  Because that is exactly what we are asking Him to do every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

And then, just in case we miss the point, Jesus repeats it a 2nd time in v.14-15: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

Evidently our Lord knew that we His people would have a major problem in this area, so He included this in the very pattern that He gave us for prayer!

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, take a moment to use it as a spiritual check-up of sorts.  Examine your relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and especially with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Remember how great a debt of sin that we have been freely forgiven in Christ, and let that be our motivation and example for extending real forgiveness to each other.