Good morning!

Matthew 6:12- “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

I hope you all have had a great weekend and have enjoyed walking through the Lord’s prayer together. What we have seen thus far is Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray. It’s clear that Jesus expects prayer to be a part of our default mode. As I mentioned last week, I am always fascinated that one of the main things the disciples wanted to learn from Jesus was how to pray! They saw Jesus’ prayers were different and packed a punch because something powerful often followed! In today’s passage, we see Jesus teaching His disciples that forgiveness is a vital component of His kingdom!

The first thing we see in this passage is Jesus acknowledging our debt. The Greek word for debt in the New Testament appears only here and in Romans 4:4, and it is clear that Matthew intended the word to mean “sin” (Luke 11:4). The choice of this word reflects the fact that all sins place us in debt to God. The Bible teaches in Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death!” This doesn’t sound great for you and I! But God…. even at worst, sent His son Jesus to pay the ransom for our sin! 

If you are a born-again Christian, praise the Lord… your debt has been paid in full!

Now with that said…. forgiven people forgive people!  Let’s remember, we are people who have rebelled against God and have been forgiven at the cost of God’s own Son. Talk about mercy…  because we have been forgiven for so much, it is only natural for us to forgive others when we are wronged. Jesus tells us a parable to help us understand this concept in Matthew 18:21-35. The one who had been forgiven much should also forgive in return because of the tremendous amount forgiveness that was extended to him. It is the same with you and I…. because forgiven people forgive.

As we start off our week, I want to encourage you to do some honest inventory of your life.  First, have you asked for forgiveness of your sin? If so, is there someone in your life, right now, you need to forgive?  A spouse? A family member? A friend? A co-worker? Someone in your church? Who in your life are you holding hostage by bitterness and resentment?  This is no way to live and Jesus calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven!

Have a great week!

-Taylor