At this point in the Lord’s prayer, we have prayed for God’s will to be done. However, if we are honest, we often resist God’s will. We even go directly against His will as He revealed it to us in His commands. We call this sin. In the Lord’s Prayer, sometimes we use the word, “sins,” sometimes, “trespasses,” and sometimes, “debts.” It’s all the same. It’s referring to when we rebel against God and disobey.
We Need Forgiveness
As Luther points out in his explanation of this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we don’t deserve anything that we are praying for nor do we have any reason to expect God to listen to us and answer, except for His grace and mercy. As we ask God for these many things, we ask Him to remove our sins and make us right with Him, not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done. This is something God gladly does for us because He is gracious and merciful and loves us, greatly.
We Need to Give Forgiveness
As we have all sinned against God, we should not be surprised that other people would sin against us. People will hurt us, sometimes intentionally, sometimes horrifically. We do not deny that we have been wronged but acknowledge it. We do not dismiss that they’ve harmed us but forgive it. We do this because God has forgiven us of sooooo much and He tells us to do the same for others.
Yet, we often find this difficult. Like in the parable of the unforgiving (
Matthew 18:21-35), we desperately desire to be forgiven, but then are unwilling to do the same for someone who has sinned against us. We’re hurt and we don’t want to let that go…but we must.
Forgiveness is Good for You and Them
We must forgive because that is what love does. Where unforgiveness destroys relationships, forgiveness restores them. Where unforgiveness eats away at us like cancer, forgiveness brings peace. Where unforgiveness hurts our relationships with God, forgiveness strengthens it.
So, as we pray, we humbly confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. We also take the time to forgive those who have sinned against us.
What If I Don’t Want To Forgive
Even when it’s hard and even when we aren’t “quite there yet,” we can forgive. Sometimes, when we struggle with a grudge, we think we need to feel a certain way in order to forgive, but we don’t.
I think of it this way, I am declaring my forgiveness for the person. If I am struggling to forgive, I will also ask God to help me to forgive. I’m not going to wait for when I “feel” like I can fully forgive. I’m going to go ahead and do it and then let the Holy Spirit work in my heart.
This is where the word, “debts,” can be helpful. I can forgive a debt by simply saying it’s forgiven even if I don’t like it. My feelings on the matter don’t change the fact that the debt is gone. Then I can work on my issue, my unforgiven heart.
