The Lord's Prayer Part 5-Forgiveness

Mt. 6:12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. If there’s one thing that I need it’s forgiveness. We all need it. Lots of it. All the time. Forgiveness is the only way to maintain relationships. It’s the only way to maintain sanity. We’re not perfect and we will fail. And when we do someone will get hurt. And if the hurt is not forgiven it will not heal. Forgiveness is what we really need. Interesting that of all the things that are covered in the Lord’s Prayer, the one thing that Jesus comments on after the prayer is forgiveness. And His comment bothers me. I don’t like to think of God in these terms. My guess is that you don’t either. If we do not forgive men their sins God won’t forgive us ours. Pardon me? That was my bad ear. God forgives everyone who prays a sinner’s prayer, right? However, the sinner’s prayer is not in the Bible. The requirement that we forgive one another is in the Bible, on the lips of Jesus no less. I suggest that when someone wants to begin a journey with Jesus we turn to this verse. And I suggest we turn to it many times again and again with an open and honest heart, ready to forgive the hurt we bear because of the imperfections and character flaws of others. Why won’t God forgive us if we don’t forgive others? In Matthew 18, Jesus makes the same point in the form of a parable…a story that would have been hilarious to its original hearers because of the ridiculous amount of debt owed by the unmerciful (read ‘unforgiving’) servant. The answer to the ‘why’ question may not be given, but the insanity of not forgiving when we’ve been forgiven so much is clear as a bell. But why does Jesus instruct us to ask for something that He came to provide anyway? Perhaps because it reminds us that we must forgive others in order to receive from Him the forgiveness we really need. Perhaps the heart condition required to forgive others is the same heart condition needed to experience and live in His forgiveness. In the equivalent passage in Luke, it is trespasses that are to be forgiven, not debts as here. Debts are good things left undone. Sins of omission. Trespasses are evil deeds we have done. Sins of commission. Both Greek and English have separate words for debts and trespasses. Aramaic, which is the original language of the prayer has only one word for both. Both debts and trespasses are included. Certainly we are guilty of both, and thus must extend forgiveness for both as well. God is so willing to forgive us ours. May we be also be willing. One final thought. If you step on my foot I will likely be able to forgive you quickly. This is forgiveness as an event. If you permanently injure someone in my immediate family, I cannot forgive you so quickly. I have a process to go through. If I pretend to forgive quickly I am being dishonest and covering up the hurt rather than forgiving it. If we are to release the hurt we must first own it. We must experience it fully. It is only then that we can make a decision to forgive. In fact, forgiveness can only be as thorough as our experience of the pain. And for a serious offense this can take months or years. But God meets us in the process of forgiveness and will lead us through it by His gentle but firm hand. He will lead us step by step. For further reading on the subject of forgiveness, I suggest reading one of Lewis Smedes excellent books, ‘The Art of Forgiving’, and ‘Forgive and Forget.’ "You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."- Smedes