Prayer can sometimes feel too clean, too easy, or even a bit “pie in the sky.” When we talk about pursuing a deeper relationship with God through prayer, life’s messiness has a way of making those beautiful truths feel complicated. But what if that messiness is exactly what Jesus was addressing when He taught us to pray “forgive us our debts”?
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Why Does Everything About Prayer Sound Too Simple?
Throughout the Lord’s Prayer, we discover incredible truths about our relationship with God. We learn that God desires relationship with us as our Father. We understand that being satisfied with God as He is deepens our connection with Him. We commit to seeking His kingdom and trusting Him for our daily needs.
These truths are powerful and real, but they can feel disconnected from our broken, messy reality. We know we’re not good at pursuing deep relationships with God. We’ve spent too much of our lives ignoring Him or going through religious motions without genuine connection.
What Does It Mean That We Need Forgiveness?
When Jesus includes “forgive us our debts” in this prayer, He’s addressing the elephant in the room. There’s no need to talk about forgiveness unless there’s something to forgive. Forgiveness is about fixing relationships, and if something needs fixing, it means it’s broken.
The Reality of Our Broken Relationship with God
Ever since Adam and Eve chose their own way over God’s way, humanity has been in the business of breaking relationship with God. We’ve all played a part in this brokenness. We’ve made ourselves more important than God. We’ve crowned ourselves king over our own lives instead of submitting to His lordship.
This creates what Jesus calls a “debt.” When we break relationships, we create damage that has a cost. There’s harm that needs to be repaired, and in God’s economy, that repair comes at a price.
How Does God’s Forgiveness Bridge the Gap?
The gap between us and God became so vast that we couldn’t exist in the same space as Him. But God decided to go all in on restoring this relationship. He sent His Son to die on the cross, paying the cost for our broken relationship.
God’s forgiveness is what allows us to actually pursue that deep relationship with Him. It bridges the chasm we created through our rebellion and sin. Without this forgiveness, all the other beautiful aspects of prayer would remain out of reach.
Why Is Asking for Forgiveness So Difficult?
Asking God to forgive us forces us to get real about where we are. We have to confront what God needs to forgive us of. Sometimes we live in denial about our spiritual finances, much like someone who refuses to look at their mounting debts.
There’s also the struggle of asking forgiveness for the same things repeatedly. We find ourselves caught in cycles of sin, asking God’s forgiveness, only to find ourselves back in the same place again.
What About Forgiving Others?
Jesus doesn’t just teach us to ask for forgiveness – He emphasizes that we must also forgive others. After finishing the Lord’s Prayer, He returns to this theme: “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Why Is Forgiving Others So Hard?
Sometimes forgiving others feels even harder than asking for forgiveness. We want to hang onto our hurt because it gives us a sense of power or control. There’s sometimes comfort in our pain, and we don’t want to let go of it.
But when we refuse to forgive, what does that do to our relationship with God? Can we really develop depth with a God who forgave us so much when we can’t release what others have done to us?
Is Forgiveness Really the Nature of God’s Kingdom?
Rather than getting caught up in whether we forgive because God forgave us or vice versa, we can understand that forgiveness is simply the nature of God’s kingdom. God forgives – that’s what He does. As citizens of His kingdom, we forgive – that’s what we do.
Forgiveness becomes the bridge between the broken world and the unbroken world. When we refuse to forgive, we’re essentially rejecting the very bridge that God created between Himself and us.
What If We Don’t Have the Strength to Forgive?
Sometimes the pain runs so deep that we genuinely don’t have it in us to forgive. This might be another aspect of our “daily bread” – asking God to give us what we need to forgive when we don’t have the capacity ourselves.
We can pray: “God, I can’t forgive, but I see what You’re able to forgive. Can You work on my heart? Can Your Spirit give me the ability to forgive that I don’t have on my own?”
How Does Forgiveness Connect to God’s Will?
The Lord’s Prayer is more interconnected than we often realize. When we pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done, we’re committing to be part of drawing others to Him. But our unforgiveness can stand in the way of this mission.
How can we effectively help others find relationship with God when we’re harboring bitterness and resentment? Our forgiveness frees us up not only to enjoy our relationship with God but also to help bring others into that same relationship.
What Does Forgiveness Actually Look Like?
Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean returning to the exact same relationship you had before. Sometimes God calls us to maintain healthy boundaries even after we’ve forgiven. Forgiveness is about letting go of the hurt and pain, choosing God’s healing over our hurt, and refusing to let what happened have power over us.
It’s about giving the situation over to God rather than trying to control it ourselves.
Life Application
This week, take an honest inventory of your relationships – both with God and with others. Are there areas where you need to ask God’s forgiveness? Are there people you need to forgive?
Prayer for forgiveness points us to how our broken relationship with God is reconciled, and it puts us in a position where we can better help others repair their broken relationships with Him as well.
Consider these questions as you reflect on forgiveness in your own life:
- What “debts” do you need to bring before God this week?
- Is there someone you’ve been refusing to forgive, and how might that be affecting your relationship with God?
- How can you ask God for the strength to forgive when you don’t feel capable of it on your own?
- In what ways might your unforgiveness be hindering your ability to help others find relationship with God?
Remember, forgiveness is the nature of God’s kingdom. As you seek to live as a citizen of that kingdom, both receiving and extending forgiveness become not just commands to follow, but expressions of who you are in Christ.