After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
Marghanita Laski was one of the more prominent authors in England during the post-World War II era. She had been a journalist in the period leading up to the war, but turned to fiction and became a best-selling author. Several of her books were turned into movies in the 1950s. She was also a commentator on current events and appeared on a number of radio broadcasts. Laski was raised in a secular home and became a noted and outspoken atheist. But not long before her death in 1988 she made a surprising statement to an interviewer: “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.” Those who choose to remain apart from God will never experience the joy of being forgiven.
Every child of God has been forgiven of a debt we could never repay. God’s forgiveness was extended to us solely by His grace and the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.Â
The forgiveness we have received does not just change our relationship with God, but our relationship with others as well. It is on the basis of being forgiven ourselves that we are instructed to forgive those who do us wrong. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).Â
This matter of us being forgiving toward others is vital to having the right fellowship with God. If He forgives us in the same way that we forgive others, as Jesus taught us to ask for forgiveness, will we be happy with the result?
