Matthew 6:12-14
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
A familiar passage…the ending of The Lord’s Prayer. It is recited every Sunday. But, it seems I sometimes don’t continue to the next verse.
I know that Jesus has forgiven my sins. His sacrifice has restored my relationship with God. I am saved and redeemed. I should be transformed. Sometimes I am not.
Sometimes I forget from what Jesus has saved me. I forget how utterly sinful I was, and that I was an enemy of God. I know that I have forgotten because I become like the “Unmerciful Servant” in the Book of Matthew.
In Matthew 18 Jesus tells the parable of a king who seeks to settle up debts with one of his servants. The debt the servant owes the king is huge and the servant has no way to pay the king back. The king demands payment and plans to confiscate all that the man owns. The servant begs for more time. The king, in an act of compassion, forgives the servant’s debt and releases him.
A short time later the now debt-free servant comes across one of his friends that owes him a very small sum. His friend can’t him pay back. Rather than respond with the forgiveness he has just received the servant chokes his friend and demands payment. He has him thrown into jail until the debt is satisfied.
The king hears reports of what the servant has done to the servant’s friend, and angrily revokes the forgiveness of the servant’s debt. The king’s final directive to the servant was, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” This is also God’s question to me, and to all of us.
God’s incredible forgiveness of my sin is beyond any hurt or debt that someone has committed against me. When I stubbornly hold on to un-forgiveness, I trivialize what God has forgiven of me. Sadly, this reflects on how I see my salvation.
We are forgiven, as Christians, when we have received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus. This salvation should affect all areas of our lives, even when it comes to others’ offenses against us. God understands that we still battle the desires and struggles of our lives. But, we can’t allow old offenses that we need to forgive to lie around our lives. They will affect our relationship with God, and thus our Christian faith.
Does God always forgive my sins, and your sins? Yes, just as we always forgive those that sin against us. May we always be so grateful for God’s forgiveness that we readily pass that gift on to others.
