FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
Matthew 6:12, 14-15

Warren Wiersbe writes, The important thing about prayer is not simply getting an answer, but being the kind of person whom God can trust with an answer.  Those are pretty powerful words, don't you think?  This must imply that, as a person, I must have a sense of sin in my own life and know what to do about that sin problem.  That is why Jesus teaches us to ask forgiveness for ourselves so that we, in turn, might be forgiving of others. 

What the world needs is forgiveness.  John R.W. Stott quotes the head of a large English mental hospital who said, I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness.  Scottish church leader, George MacLeod, writes, We live in a world where literally thousands of church members are in need of release.  We live in a vacuum where men simply are not freed.

An interesting question arises out of this text, Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  Is Jesus teaching that we need to forgive a person first and then the Lord will automatically forgive us, or, is Jesus teaching that we need to forgive a person first so that we can have God forgive us?

Before we consider an answer to that question, let us first focus on understanding just what is sin.  There are five Greek words for sin.  There is the word that is usually translated as sin.  This is the most common and meant literally "to miss the mark of a target."  It implied a failure to be what we could have been.  This is the word Paul used in Romans 3:23 where he proclaimed that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

A second word is usually translated transgression and comes from a Greek word that meant "to step across", implying a deliberate stepping across a line which had been drawn between right and wrong.  A third word, translated trespass, came from the word meaning "to slip across" and denoted an act which was not as deliberate as a transgression.  Then, there is the word translated lawlessness which depicts a man who knows the right and yet chooses to do the wrong, thus becoming a law breaker. 

Finally, there is the word that Jesus used here in this petition of The Lord's Prayer.  The word debt referred to a failure to pay that which was due.  Dr. Pink, one of the outstanding Bible scholars of the past century, wrote concerning this word:  As it is contrary to the holiness of God, sin is a defilement, a dishonor, and a reproach to us as it is a violation of His law.  It is a crime, and as to the guilt which we contract thereby, it is a debt.  As creatures we owe a debt of obedience unto our maker and governor, and through failure to render the same on account of our rank disobedience, we have incurred a debt of punishment, and it is for this that we implore a divine pardon.

Two things are implied with this petition.  First, I must admit that others have sinned against me.  This is usually not too difficult to do.  But, second, I must admit that I have sinned against God.  Most of us are conscious that we have not always done what God wanted us to do.  These then become our need for forgiveness.

Father, Oh how much we need to learn about having a spirit of forgiveness.  But, of this we are certain, we do stand in need of forgiveness from You for we do confess that we have often sinned and fallen short of Your goal for our lives.  As You have forgiven us, may we, in turn, be forgiving of others.  We pray this in Jesus' name.  Amen.

 

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