Forgiveness; your standard or God’s?

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”
Matthew 6:12

The above scripture is one of the very common scriptures in the bible. It is an extract from The Lord ’s Prayer; the model prayer taught by Jesus. It is one of the first things we are taught in Sunday school , and we grow up reciting with ease.

However we seldom break it down to look at the individual segments and what they actually mean. I want us to pay attention to the part that talks about forgiveness. In the model prayer taught by Jesus, God forgiving us is actually conditional. The bible implies that our sins/trespasses should be forgiven us in the same manner we forgive others who sin against us. Technically, we are telling God that if “I haven’t forgiven this man/woman, do not forgive me” That is quite a bargain isn’t it?

I recently was hurt badly by someone, but I never told the person what she had done. I held it within me and never forgave her, and every time I saw her, the pain was kindled. Because I never told her why I was hurt, she just lived on with her life. In prayer meetings, I’d see her and wonder why she even prayed and whether she was worthy to even come before God if she could do that.

Yes, I was that bitter, though I never admitted it.

One day we were at a meeting, praying. Then I saw her praying. Then the thoughts came back. Just then a thought struck me, it was more like me talking to myself in my head. I heard a clear discussion, something like this:

“Why are you angry?”

“Because she is here with her pious self-praying”

“How does that concern you”

“But…but?”

“How do you know she is not in right standing with God?”

“But… but…”

“Do you know how her relationship with God is like?”

“But… but…”

“Do you know that God says if we come before him genuinely and ask for forgiveness, He will be faithful and just to forgive?”

“Yes… but”

“What if she is in right standing with God, and you are losing it because you are not forgiving, and yet you keep asking for forgiveness, even as you forgive?”

Friends, I had no answer to that question. There and then I prayed for forgiveness, and for help to forgive and let the person go in my heart. I felt peace within at that point. Then I knew I was ok. I don’t feel pain anymore.

We walk about holding grudges, yet we forget that even in the model prayer Jesus taught the only condition to receive forgiveness is that we forgive others.

How many people do you hold captive in your heart? Free them, and now pray for forgiveness.