Pray then like this:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Jesus taught us to both offer and receive forgiveness. More than this, the measure with which we are to forgive is the measure by which we are forgiven. For those who have been justified by Christ, this doesn’t mean that if we fail to forgive someone God will condemn us as guilty – once declared righteous we are (Praise God!) righteous. But it does mean that day by day we are to be involved in the business of giving and receiving forgiveness.
Every one of us will in a typical day be offended by someone. Every day someone will do something that upsets us. This might be a small thing (like being cut up while we’re driving) or it might be something far more significant. Either way, we need to make a discipline of practising forgiveness and not allow these things to fester in our souls so that we become bitter.
Bitter people are not good at receiving the forgiveness of God. If our souls are free from bitterness towards others we will be far more free to receive the balm of God’s forgiveness towards us. We owed such a great debt, a debt we could never settle, but in his grace God forgives us. This happens once for all at the moment of justification, but day by day we need to step into the forgiving grace of God. We are debt free, and are meant to live that way.
Questions
• Are there people with debts towards you that you need to forgive?
• When did you first experience the forgiveness of God?
• Do you tend to be more aware of the debt Jesus settled on your behalf at the cross or the debts that others owe to you?
Praise
• Praise Jesus that because of the cross we can know complete forgiveness.
• Praise Jesus that because of his forgiveness we can walk in freedom with God and with other people.
• Thank God that he is far more gracious than we will ever be, but he still loves us!
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