How Then, Shall We Pray?மாதிரி

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Confession is not easy—at least, I don’t find it easy. I would rather pretend that I have everything figured out and haven’t messed up too much. But if I am honest, and if I reflect on what the Lord has commanded us to do, I recognize that I am in need of constant forgiveness. And while the pain of confessing that I have messed up and sinned against the Lord is real, the joy of knowing I am forgiven and accepted by him overshadows my sorrow. 

Jesus knows us fully, which means he knows every single time we have done something contrary to his will. And he forgives us every single time because his sacrifice on the cross was enough to cover all of our sins. When we come to the Father for forgiveness, we should not fear rejection, for if we have been saved, we will always belong to him—we will always be one of his precious children. Instead, we are perfected little by little, and we gain a deeper understanding of the cost of Jesus’s sacrifice and of the Father’s love for us.

In today’s passages, what do these prayers ask forgiveness from? Where in your life do you need to ask forgiveness?