Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Dissecting Matthew 6:12

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

"A great blessing is here asked upon conditions.

We ourselves state these conditions.
We ask that the mercy of God toward us may be measured by the mercy which we extend to others.

One of the most common sins,
and one that is attended with most pernicious results,
is the indulgence of an unforgiving spirit.
 
*How many will cherish animosity or revenge and then bow before God and ask to be forgiven as they forgive.
*Surely they can have no true sense of the import of this prayer or they would not dare take it upon their lips.

The fact that we are under so great obligation to Christ places us under the most sacred obligation to those whom He died to redeem. He who is unforgiving cuts off the very channel through which alone he can receive mercy from God. 

As we come to God, this is the condition which meets us at the threshold, that, receiving mercy from Him, we yield ourselves to reveal His grace to others."
E.G.W.