Forgive us...As we forgive
Last June & July I wrote a series of articles on "Finding Freedom" through forgiveness. In light of our current series on the Lord’s Prayer, I felt it was appropriate to republish the second of that series. " ...forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. " —Matthew 6:12 Jesus, it seems, was pretty serious about our forgiving those who wrong us. He put some pretty strong conditions on forgiving, tying our own forgiveness to how we forgive. But forgiveness is hard! When we even think about forgiving "that person" the pain returns and the wound feels as though it were just inflicted. All of the emotion returns, and try as we might, we just cannot bring ourselves to release them. It is important for us at this point to properly define what forgiveness is, and what it is not. We often withhold forgiveness, simply because we do not understand what it means to forgive. Forgiveness is: releasing my right to be angry and/or