The Lord's prayer teaches us to ask our Father in heaven for forgiveness. "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matthew 6:12) I am certain that most who read this post have asked God for forgiveness numerous times. We know that we do many things that are offensive to Him, for which we should be punished. We feel the displeasure of our Father and the rift created in our fellowship with Him. So, we come to Him in humble sincerity and ask Him to forgive us. It is not pleasant to know that we need forgiveness, but it is much worse to believe that we don't need it. There are many people who don't truly sense the guilt of their sin and separation from God. They rarely ask His forgiveness, and when they do, it is more out of obligation than sincerity. So, although it is humiliating to know that we have offended God, and to come to Him for forgiveness once again; we can be thankful that we have this sincere relationship with Him. But what about our responsibility to forgive others? Asking God for forgiveness seems appropriate to us, but Jesus teaches us that we should only ask for it in the way that we also forgive others. This would be like asking God NOT to forgive us unless we also forgive others. To emphasize this even more, Jesus says "for if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." (Matthew 6:14-15) It is an alarming thought! Am I able to forgive others when they offend me, or do I feel justified in being bitter and holding a grudge against them? Jesus is teaching us that if we are not able to forgive others freely from our hearts, than we truly do not know, nor have we received, the forgiveness of God. A tremendous capacity to forgive others is created by our experience of God's forgiveness. An inability to forgive others is the result of not experiencing the forgiveness of God. Nothing that anyone can do to hurt or offend us is greater than what we have done to hurt and offend our heavenly Father. So, if He is able to forgive us, we are certainly able to forgive others. This is actually a helpful reminder to us when we have been offended. We should first consider God's mercy toward us, and then we can strive to be merciful toward others. So, we ask our Father to forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Having asked His forgiveness, why do we expect to receive it? We know the greatness of His mercy toward us. We know the greatness of His mercy in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. We know that He was willing and able to make that sacrifice in order to forgive our sins against Him. We also know the inexhaustible supply of His mercy. Peter once asked Jesus if we should forgive others 7 times. Jesus answered not just 7, but 70 times 7. We believe that God is able and willing to forgive our sins against Him yesterday, today and tomorrow. His mercy will not run out. So, let us humbly ask our heavenly Father to forgive us our debts, and let us remember our duty to forgive our debtors.
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