AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS!

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“’And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…’ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

Please take note that the only point the Lord Jesus emphasizes in this prayer is the necessity for forgiving one another!!

Forgiveness with the Father depends on forgiveness among the members of the family of God….This is the forgiveness that affects fellowship within the family of God – not the forgiveness that leads to salvation.

Within this prayer that we call “The Lord’s Prayer”, God is seen as the sovereign creditor to whom we must give account for all the goods he has entrusted to us….What is it that we have that we have not received from God?….The pardon which God offers signifies that the past is abolished and that a man finds himself before God in an entirely new situation --- He is freed from his debt; but if he does not forgive the debts which his brother has contracted toward him, it is deceptive to think that his own liberation is real!

THE LOVE OF GOD HAS FOUND NO ECHO IN HIM – GOD’S LOVE IS NOT REFLECTED IN THE MAN WHO WAS FORGIVEN BUT YET REFUSES TO FORGIVE OTHERS!!
THIS IS WHY JESUS ABSOLUTELY CONNECTED THE PARDON WHICH WE RECEIVE FROM GOD FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS TO THAT WHICH WE ACCORD TO OTHERS!!!

“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.” (Mark 11:25)

“For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13)

What we are to understand through these Scriptures is that we must always recognize that God makes forgiveness for our transgressions available and free for the asking through His mercy….Therefore, if our Heavenly Father is willing to forgive us and show mercy, then should we not also be willing to forgive others and show God’s mercy when they intentionally or unintentionally hurt us, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ!!!!!

WE MUST SHOW GOD & OTHERS THAT WE DO UNDERSTAND THE LOVE & MERCY OF GOD BY SHOWING THAT SAME LOVE & MERCY TOWARD OTHERS -- GENUINELY & CONSISTENTLY!!
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