‘And Forgive Us Our Debts’

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew 6:12

God has things to say about forgiveness. As Christ teaches us to pray, He lays emphasis upon our need to seek the forgiveness of God for the many ways in which we have transgressed against Him. It is worth our time to consider the whole subject and the manner in which God Himself approaches it. Christ is very specific about this. He associates forgiveness with repentance. When Christ began to preach, the first words which Mark records of His preaching include, ‘Repent and believe the Gospel.’ Christ does not separate forgiveness from repentance. As He teaches us to pray, ‘Forgive us our debts’ or as it reads elsewhere, ‘forgive us our trespasses’ implicit within those phrases is the idea of repentance. The rest of the New Testament supports this. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter raised the matter of repentance in his Gospel invitation. He associated repentance with ‘remission of sins.’ When Paul reasoned with the Greeks on Mars Hill, he said that God, ‘commands all men everywhere to repent.’ As we begin our discussion of forgiveness, let us be careful to take into account all that God has to say upon the subject, and all that Christ teaches. Let us trace the fruit of forgiveness back to the root of repentance. We may then approach the Throne of Grace in humble repentance, crying out, ‘Forgive us our debts.’

Our Father and Our God,
we come to You today, standing on redemption ground.
We rejoice that there is forgiveness with You,
that we may honor and respect You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning