Never Fail To Forgive

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew 6:12

When I was a teenager, I disobediently took my father’s car out for a joyride when he wasn’t home. Unfortunately, I ended up running the car off a country road and into a ditch. I went to him and said, “Dad, I’ve got to tell you, I feel terrible about what I did. I was wrong, deceitful, dishonest. I knew better than to do that. I’m sorry, and I want to ask you to forgive me.” He said, “You are forgiven—but you will pay for the car.”

When I damaged my father’s car, did I cease to be my father’s son? No. But my relational forgiveness was in deep trouble. If you want to know oneness with the Lord in your daily relationship with Him, if you want to feel the reality of your forgiveness when you pray to God, don’t hold grudges against others and fail to forgive them. You can’t come to God and expect to enjoy His forgiveness of your sins when you have not confessed your own sin of unforgiveness and forgiven your brother. If you want to know the daily sense of your forgiveness in your walk with the Lord, then you must forgive those who have wronged you.