Debtors To God

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Matthew 6:12

The word "debt" is another word for "sin" but "debt" is a more correct translation of the original Greek text. 

Actually, "debt" is a good word picture for what sin is! Sin is "missing the mark" or falling short of the standard.

God is a Holy and cannot abide sin. So, if I sin (when) I have fallen short of God's nature and His standard which puts me in a moral and spiritual debt to Him. And it is a debt I have no ability to ever pay. Each time I sin my level of debt deepens.

If you have ever been in debt financially you can begin to grasp the spiritual condition you find yourself in as a sinner. The more you sin the greater the debt, the deeper the hole you find yourself in and the more hopeless you feel. Every month as a new payment comes due you begin to panic realizing you cannot make the payment so you will fall deeper in debt and feel more hopeless.

A large and growing debt burden can crush you!

What do you do when you owe a debt you cannot pay while the debt continues to grow?

Do you cry?

Do you fret?

Do you resign yourself to a hopeless existence?

Do you become depressed?

Do you self-medicate with alcohol or drugs?

Well, when you owe a debt it either has to be paid or it has to be cancelled by the creditor. Right?

That brings us full circle in this thought.

We are debtors to God owing Him an ever-mounting moral debt that we have no hope of ever paying. Our only hope is for God to cancel the debt or release us from it!

God did both!

He paid your debt by sacrificing Jesus, His Son, on the cross of Calvary. Jesus, because He was sin-free (debt-free) was able to take the death penalty for you and the blood He shed on the cross atoned for your sins!

Jesus paid your debt and released you from the penalty of it!

All you have to do is believe it and receive it by trusting Jesus as your Savior!

What do you call a gift so great as that?

Grace!

November 16, 2017

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Matthew 6:12

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  Matthew 6:14-15

Augustine called this text “a terrible petition.” He pointed out that if you pray these words while harboring an unforgiving spirit, you are actually asking God not to forgive you. Ponder that for a moment. If you pray “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” while refusing to forgive those who have wronged you, this prayer which is meant to be a blessing becomes a self-inflicted curse. In that case you are really saying, “O God, since I have not forgiven my brother, please do not forgive me.” That is why Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great English preacher, said that if you pray the Lord’s Prayer with an unforgiving spirit, you have virtually signed your own “death-warrant.”

During one period of his life, John Wesley was a missionary in the American colonies—primarily in the area that would become the state of Georgia. There was a general by the name of Oglethorpe with whom Wesley had some dealings. General Oglethorpe was a great military leader, but he had a reputation as a harsh and brutal man. One day he said to John Wesley, “I never forgive.” To which Wesley replied, “Then, sir, I hope you never sin.”

When we pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we are asking God to forgive our sins according to the same standard we have used in forgiving the sins of others. There are 11 words in the text, but only one of them is important for our purposes. It’s the little word “as.” Everything hangs on the meaning of that word. “As” is the conjunction that joins the first half of the petition with the second half. When Jesus says “as,” he is setting up a comparison between the way we forgive and the way God forgives us. This text says that we set the standard and then God follows the standard. We establish the pattern and then God follows that pattern in the way he deals with us. When you pray this prayer you are really saying, “O God, deal with me as I deal with other people. Deal with me as I have dealt with others.” We are virtually saying, “O God, I’ve got a neighbor and I did some favors for my neighbor and my neighbor is ungrateful to me for all I have done. I am angry with my neighbor and I will not forgive him for his ingratitude. Now deal with me as I have dealt with my neighbor.” It’s as if we’re praying, “O God, that man hurt me. I am so angry I can’t wait to get even. Deal with me as I have dealt with him.” We set the standard and God follows our lead.

Unless you forgive you will not be forgiven. To refuse to forgive someone else and then to ask God for forgiveness is a kind of spiritual schizophrenia. You are asking God to give you what you are unwilling to give to someone else. The fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer tells us you cannot have it both ways. Do you want to be forgiven? You must forgive others.

10 Steps To Forgiveness

"Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." Matthew 6:12

Is He really saying what it sounds like He is saying here?

It sounds like what He is saying is if you don't forgive those who have sinned against you He can't forgive you. But that can't be right, can it? 

Actually, yes it is!

In fact, that is precisely what it means!

If you can't receive God's grace for your sinfulness then you won't be able to extend grace to others. That's pretty much what it means. The fact is simple even if the forgiveness isn't.

So, my relationship with others has a direct effect on my relationship with God?

Yes!

Wow! That's serious!

So, what do I need to do?

What does forgiveness look like? The answer will vary depending on the person involved and what they did to you. Here are a few helpful guidelines (taken partly from Kendall and also from a list by the Puritan author Thomas Watson, as supplied by Waylon Moore):

1. Face what they did and forgive them anyway.

2. Don’t keep bringing it up to them.

3. Don’t talk about it to others.

4. Show mercy instead of judgment.

5. Refuse to speak evil of others.

6. Choose not to dwell on it.

7. Pray for them.

8. Ask God to bless them.

9. Do not rejoice at their calamities.

10. Help them when you can.

Let me ask you a few questions in regard to this list. 

Is this not exactly what Jesus did for you?

Aren't you thankful that He did?

Does He then have the right to demand this of you?

Are you willing to forgive like this?

Where are you struggling?

Will you ask Him to give you grace to forgive? The same grace He used to forgive you?

November 14, 2017

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Matthew 6:12

There is one  phrase I always work into my wedding ceremonies and it is this, "And never forget that marriage is the union of two good forgivers."

If you were to interview 50 couples who have been married for 25 years or more there would be five or six common denominators that they would attribute the longevity of their relationships to and one of those attributes would forgiveness.

Imagine a scenario like this. Things have been a bit tense between you and your spouse recently and to prevent it from escalating you apologize saying, "Please forgive me I have been hard to live with lately."

Your spouse replies, "No!"

"No? What do you mean, no?"

"No, I won't forgive you!"

"Really?"

"Really! I will not forgive you! I can't forgive you!"

Where can that conversation go from there?

For that matter, where can a relationship go from there?

Christianity is not a religion it is a relationship with a loving and living God! It is a relationship that was made possible through forgiveness. That forgiveness is made possible by the blood of Jesus Who paid the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross.

So, a relationship born out of forgiveness requires continued forgiveness to sustain it!

No wonder Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

Forgiving is hard but Jesus says, "You have a prayer!"

November 13, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

This is a promise from God that as we trust Jesus we will have enough for each day.

Worrying about physical and material provisions is a strong theme throughout the sixth chapter of Matthew.

What is the solution for worry? 

How can we keep from being overcome by anxiety?

Jesus addresses that timely topic in this short section of the Lord's Prayer and then He addresses it again toward the end of chapter six.

He urges us to trust the Father one day at a time! Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not guaranteed! Learn from the past and don't labor under it! 

Did God take care of you yesterday? Then why not trust Him today and be confident of tomorrow?

Trusting God a day at a time assures you won't waste your energy in non-productive concerns. You have a limited amount of emotional and physical energy so why waste it fretting over the past or projecting into the future? You have no control over either but you can be fully committed and invested in each moment of the present day!

This is not a prescription for irresponsibility or laziness but rather a recognition of the Father's desire and sufficiency to meet your needs. It doesn't all depend on you! And when you remove that pressure from yourself you become more motivated to pursue your daily tasks. 

This also reaffirms the truth that faith is a relationship NOT a religion. It is a daily walk with loving Father. 

Are healthy relationships spent regretting the past?

No! Only God knows how many relationships have been strained and ruined by the failure to leave past hurts or fears in the past!

Are healthy relationships spent fretting over the future?

Of course not!

If you know Jesus as your Savior your past is forgiven and reconciled and your future is in the hands of your Heavenly Father. 

What if God freed you from your past and guaranteed your future so you can enjoy Him a day at a time?

The call of Christ is to fully invest moment by moment in your daily walk with your Father!

What a way to live!

Will you choose to live that way today?

Will you pray, "Give ME today my daily bread?"

November 12, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Jesus was a Master Teacher because He had the knack of packing profound truths into simple statements.

A great example is The Lord's Prayer which Jesus could have nearly Tweeted since it's just 66 words long!

One way to unpack this prayer is distill it down into smaller prayers. I have identified four prayers contained in just this eleventh verse of Matthew 6. 

The first three are:

A prayer of gratitude

A prayer of contentment

A prayer of confidence

Today we will look at the fourth prayer which is a prayer of generosity.

Note the words "give US....OUR...."

Reflected in this request is the attitude of Kingdom people. We don't give to get we give to glorify. And when we do get, we give it away!

Kingdom people are not receptacles we are channels or conduit between God's resources and the world's needs.

How else can God meet human needs from Heaven's storehouse?

So, many people look at the heart-breaking poverty in our world and cry out to God, "Why?"

But God weeps in Heaven and cries out, "Who?"

One way you could pray this part of the Prayer is, "Give me today what I need to meet needs."

As I write this I think of this classic story that illustrates well what God desires from Kingdom people:

One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”

Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The man said, “I don’t understand.”

God smiled. It is simple, he said, Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves… [Author unknown]

"Give US today OUR daily bread" is, among other things, a prayer to deliver us from greed and create in us a generous nature!

Will you pray that prayer today?

There is a needy world depending on you!

November 11, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Within this short and prayer are four prayers worthy of note. I have shared two of them and with this post I share the third:

This is a prayer of gratitude and a prayer of contentment as well as a prayer of confidence!

How is it a prayer of confidence?

First, you can be confident in who is giving you the prayer. When Jesus teaches you a pattern for prayer you can certainly have confidence in that prayer!

Second, you can be confident in who you are praying to! Jesus gives you the prayer with the assurance that God will listen to this prayer!

Third, you can be confident in the content of the prayer! Jesus knows the Father and what pleases Him. Jesus knows God's will and what He wants to do. Jesus knows what you need to ask the Father for! Since Jesus is the source of this prayer you can pray it with confidence!

What is the point of praying if you do not pray with confidence? If praying brings you more confusion or doubt than you had before you prayed, why would you do that?

The Lord's Prayer is a pattern for praying confidently! You can be confident in a prayer that is given by Jesus to His disciples to please His Father!

So, when you pray according to this prayer you can pray with confidence!