Tuesday, June 11, 2013

By: Gwen Hitt

"The Lord's Prayer" Series Day 8: "...as we forgive those who sin against us."

Law of Reciprocity

Matthew 6:14-15 If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

I grew up in a home with three sisters and ONE bathroom. This major inconvenience along with other factors such as "borrowing" clothes without permission, monopolizing the only telephone, and tattling to my mother about one or more of our exploits also fanned fuel to the fire.

I can recall heated arguments that could have driven us apart. However, no matter how upset we became with each other, we would always forgive and forget. Well, almost ---- for some reason, my older sister does still bring up the time that I jumped out of a tree and broke her arm. She just can't seem to get over that one....LOL!

In our study of The Lord's Prayer, it was mentioned yesterday that our Heavenly Father is willing and able to forgive our sins when we go to Him. Today's scripture warns that the forgiveness extended to us from God is DEPENDENT upon OUR ability to forgive others. The Lord's Prayer confirms this truth in how it is written, "and forgive us our sins AS we have forgiven those who sin against us."

Matthew 18:23-35 provides a great example of how we can fail in this area. The parable describes a rich King who forgives a servant's debt (valued at 3 billion dollars today). The King's willingness to wipe out such a huge debt - something the servant could never repay on his own - is representative of how we could never on our own pay back God for His forgiveness and mercy in our lives.

Sadly, the story does not end here. Rather than the servant departing from the King with a grateful heart and a willingness to show the same mercy to others, this same man went on to throw another servant in prison for not repaying a debt owed to him. Where was the forgiveness and mercy that was bestowed upon him by his King?

My challenge to you today is to truly understand and live by the law of reciprocity in the Kingdom of God which is found in Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." What are you sowing in your life?

Dear Father, Open my heart to forgive others as You are so willing to forgive me. Help me to always remember that You will forgive me as I have extended forgiveness to those in my life.

I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.