2006-06-09
Good Morning Cherished of God,
For the last several weeks, we've been looking at the index sentences of the Lord's Prayer [MT 6: 9-13], and we will continue this week. To recap I'll give the others in order that we've already examined along with what they express. The first one is, "Our Father Who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name" (worship). The next ones are, "Thy Kingdom come" (allegiance), "Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven" (submission), and "Give us this day our daily bread" (petition). Today, we will look at the fifth index sentence, "And forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors," which is an expression of confession.
In this sentence the Lord Jesus is forcing us to look at the entire issue of forgiveness, not just part of it. He is saying that our own forgiveness from God is linked to our willingness to forgive others. Now, we might be able to better understand the old adage, "confession is good for the soul." Let's look at what is said in LK 6: 37, "Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you." How much clearer can that be? Now we all know that's easy to say and with some people hard to do. I'll share an example from my own life that should reveal just how much power God has to change a person's way of thinking. Two of the human traits that most annoy me are mean-spirited gossip and duplicity (having two personalities: the insincere, polite one you are shown and the nasty one that does cruel and destructive things behind your back). I have a relative who fits this unfortunate profile for both, and have, at one time, been the unhappy recipient of this person's misdeeds. In the past, I walked around angry, hurt, and unwilling to share my feelings with anyone. These feelings were eating away at me, and I didn't even realize how destructive my own reaction to them was. At one point, it was compromising my health at a time when I was pregnant. That's when I made the decision to move away from where my ex-husband and I had been living. It was the first in a series of constructive decisions that I finally made to deal with my problem, but it wasn't a total solution. I knew that this relative wasn't the kind that one could sit down and talk out what was the matter between us. The behavior of this relative was a deeply ingrained part of this person's personality. There would be no interest on that person's part in solving the problem or making changes. Physical separation was the only answer I could see at the time. I didn't have faith in Christ at that time, so I didn't realize I could appeal to Him for help. When I finally did come to faith, Christ put it on my heart to put my anger behind me and be the one to make God-pleasing changes. The first one was to confess my part in allowing our trouble to go on so long and then, to ask for His help. He has given it to me by the change in my attitude: my willingness to share with a trusted friend and my dear husband, Peter, about what happened, the openness to seek wise counsel from the Bible on how to approach this person, and the affirmation by the peace that exists between us now that God's advice is best. I had to do the changing, and I couldn't do it without God's intervention. I had to leave the judgments and decision about condemnation up to God. I needed to forgive and have done so. We can't stop some people from misbehavior and wrongdoing, but we can control how we react to it.
MT 6 :14-15 has a lot to do with our ability to produce the fruits of the Spirit [GA 5: 22-23]. "If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done." Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount and all over the NT are entirely consistent. We can't be allowed to forget MT 5: 7, "Blessed are the merciful; God will be merciful to them." It took me some time to gain the maturity to spend time looking into this relative's background sufficiently to begin to understand this person's behavior. Things began to make better sense, and my understanding gained enabled me to finally get over my anger and forgive. While it may not have impacted the other person right away, it surely was a release for me. Now, through what has happened to me, I have begun to see why each of us has enough work to do making God-pleasing changes for himself that we have no time to be out there trying to change others. That's for God, through their own set of experiences, to do. I have also seen why confession to God can be so cleansing, when it is done with sincerity and a willingness to stop the offending behavior or thought pattern. Imagine what might have happened if Christ had decided to get so angry with our sin that He refused to give His life for it. That's a horrifying thought to me! Part of His perfection is that He willingly suffered humiliation and took on the pain of going to the cross for us, so that all willing to listen and believe in the truth would be saved. How blessed anyone with faith in Him is! As we spend these however many weeks delving into the meaning behind the deceptively simple index sentences of the Lord's Prayer, we begin to see the wisdom that Christ shares with us in it. It is my hope that none of us will ever take saying the Lord's Prayer in church for granted again.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have taught us to be forgiving throughout the Scriptures. Those who don't care for the OT, thinking it's too harsh, haven't seen Your teaching about forgiveness in it. PR 18: 19 is a sound example. "Help your brother and he will protect you like a strong city wall, but if you quarrel with him, he will close his doors to you." We must not forget how just You were when You instructed the ancient Jews to set up cities of refuge for people who had inadvertently killed another- to protect them from the families wanting to take revenge on them [NU 35: 6, 13-15]. In this, You were showing not only justice, but forgiveness-a lesson You wanted Your people to learn. Once Your Son was on the scene, He openly and often taught forgiveness. MT 5: 44-45a is His teaching on love for one's enemies. "But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the sons of your Father in heaven." MK 11: 25-26 continues this teaching. "And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done." You have even made clear to what extent we should forgive others who wrong us in LK 17: 3-4, "So watch what you do! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." This requires our patience and ability to say the truth in love. It also demands of us willingness to live up to the New Commandment of JN 13: 34-35, "And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are My disciples." Christ addresses the extent of our forgiveness even more clearly in MT 18: 21-23. We must forgive those who wrong us seven times seventy times. Why? It is "because the Kingdom of heaven is like this." We praise, worship, and thank You, Dear Father, for giving us this life-changing teaching and for being Who You are. We offer You our willingness to obey and to love You forever. In Christ's holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
There is more to say about the fifth index sentence, so that will be the subject of next week's devotion. As I review the teachings we have been given about confession and forgiveness, I would be remiss in not mentioning some that came to us from God through Paul and others. RO 10: 9-10 gives us insight on confession and faith. "If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved." EPH 4: 32 restates what we have learned from the four Gospels. "Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ." The same notion is repeated in COL 3: 13. As for people with whom you can't settle your differences because of their stubborn refusal to do so, they are to be pitied, not held in anger. 2 COR 4: 3-4 tells us why. "For if the Gospel we preach is hidden, it is hidden only from those who are being lost. They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them from seeing the light shining on them, the light that comes from the Good News about the glory of Christ, Who is the exact likeness of God." When we consider what God's blessings to us really are, forgiveness and loving others taught, we are showered with life-giving rays of His light for eternity, if we will only obey His will. For what more could we ask?
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn