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The Forgiveness of God

The next lines of Jesus’ Model Prayer deal with forgiveness: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Jesus said we should ask God to forgive us as we have forgiven our debtors. Clearly, there’s a link between our forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness of us. What’s that link? And why should we pray for forgiveness if Christ has already forgiven us?

Sin is a debt owed to God. When we ask God to forgive us our debts, we understand that He is willing to forgive us our wrongs. But Jesus clearly attached the condition of forgiveness of others when asking forgiveness from God—as we also have forgiven our debtors.

When we ask for forgiveness of our sins, we’re expressing faith in God’s mercy. Our ongoing petition for forgiveness is an opportunity for God, again and again, to remind us of the good news of the gospel. It’s also a chance for us, again and again, to humble ourselves before Him and declare that we need His mercy.

Our willingness to forgive others reflects our understanding of God’s forgiveness of us. If we have trouble extending forgiveness to another person, it might very well be because we aren’t aware of the depth of our sin and the greatness of God’s forgiveness of us.