Matthew 6:12, 14-15 (NIV): “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
There are a lot of people who desire God’s forgiveness, and want that forgiveness to be powerful, effective, and complete. We want God to forgive us so completely that He no longer even remembers that we have sinned. We want Him to forgive us, and then treat us with absolute love, trust, and care, as if we have always been deserving of all of that. And, when we truly repent, completely turning away from our sins, and seek God’s forgiveness by faith in the blood of Jesus, He does all of that for us.
There is, however, one huge thing that will completely block off God’s forgiveness: unforgiveness of someone else. Jesus was very intentional in His wording of this part of His model prayer. A person who follows His lead is asking for God to forgive them in the same way, to the same degree, that they have extended forgiveness to others. And, as Jesus made clear in many of His parables, that is God’s standard anyway.
If we withhold forgiveness from anyone, God will withhold His forgiveness from us. If we say that we forgive, but hold a grudge against the other person, we will find that God will continue to hold our sin over our own head. If we claim to forgive the other person, but then let hurt feelings keep the other person at arm’s length from ourselves, we will find that God has grown distant from us, too.
The ONLY way to really experience God’s forgiveness, and the eternal life that goes with it, is for us, His people, to truly forgive those who have sinned against us, and forgive them not just in words, but from the heart. And yes, God DOES know what they did to us! Only complete forgiveness of others will open the door to complete forgiveness from God.
Father, I understand how this requirement is based on Your unconditional love, not only for those of us who follow You now, but for ALL people everywhere, people whom You desperately want to become Your followers. But they will never believe in or trust in Your forgiveness of them if they don’t even get to experience OUR forgiveness! Help us, Lord, to forgive as You forgive, so that we can be forgiven fully as we fully forgive. Amen.