Do we need reminding how important forgiveness is? Be honest: there are those of us who bear grudges; or hold it against people when they hurt us and do not adequately apologise; or punish others by sulking for a set time before we reluctantly remember we are supposed to forgive and sheepishly offer a half-hearted “sorry”.
We need look no further than Matthew 6, where we find one version of the Lord’s Prayer (v8-13). Here is the Message translation:
This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are.
Set the world right; do what’s best - as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
But we should never stop reading there! Verses 14-16 are vital to our understanding of forgiveness:
In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
I am not absolutely certain that God will actually ‘cut us off’ but it is certainly a stern warning and shows how important it is that we seek to forgive. I think we begin to understand forgiveness when we realise that God forgave all our sins, before we were even born. So, a prayer about forgiveness needs to start with praise and thanksgiving, before moving on to ask help with any issues we have in forgiving.
Jesus our Saviour, we believe that you died for us. You ripped the veil of the temple in two so that we can enter God’s presence by confessing our sins and not going through special rituals. We can never understand what it cost you to be separated from your Father and ours but we thank you for your incredible gift of salvation.
Holy Spirit, we need your power to express that we genuinely forgive someone – without you, this world would be a very dark place. We need you to give us the pure unconditional forgiveness that flows from our Father God, not the weak emotion that we feel on our own. Amen.
Elaine Kinchin
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