“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
– Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:14-15)
Just after Jesus gave His disciples the majestic “Lord’s Prayer,” He inserted a difficult teaching about the necessity of forgiveness. It’s almost as though He felt He must go back and expound one of the key parts to the model prayer – “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Protestants generally have had a hard time with this saying. Jesus seems to be promoting a salvation of “works,” by implying that God’s forgiveness of a person depends on that person’s forgiveness of another. There are several ways that Bible teachers have tried to squirm out from under such a hard teaching. Perhaps we should instead make our home here.
A crucial part of Jesus’ Kingdom message was the announcement of forgiveness. Many times, before Jesus would heal someone, He would announce their sins forgiven. He called His disciples to forgive others no matter how many times they had been wronged. He demanded His followers forgive not only the personal offences of their neighbors, but also their outstanding financial and social debts. Within this ministry of forgiveness, Jesus states that one cannot refuse to forgive others and still hope to bask in God’s forgiveness.
It does not help you to have one artery clear for blood to come rushing to your heart if the artery going out from your heart is blocked. A heart attack is still inevitable. You cannot stay alive by simply taking in one big breath of air and refusing to exhale. You cannot climb a tree and expect to remain up high if you cut off the branch you are sitting on.
Forgiveness works the same way. You cannot expect to receive God’s forgiveness unless you are an open vessel through which His mercy can flow on out to others. A blocked artery that refuses to allow blood to be pumped through will only cause heart failure. If we think we have accepted God’s forgiveness but are not forgiving others their debts, spiritually, we are as good as dead.
written by Trevin Wax. © 2007 Kingdom People Blog
