[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 07/Jul/2024]
There are a few of us who write these short articles for ‘Yours’. We have a rota, and this is sent out every 4 months, so you know well in advance when it is your turn. As I am sure the other people on the rota will attest to, time seems to move differently with the rota, because it seems like you just blink and it’s your turn again. This means you have to find inspiration, and quickly. I was in that position and went onto Horley Baptist Church on YouTube to find inspiration (something I am sure just about all of you do).
We have just finished a sermon series on Grown Up Prayers, looking at aspects of the Lord’s prayer. Martin spoke last week on the part which says
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”[1]
Jesus later expands on this by saying:
“For 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.”[2]
Martin stated that this, like many of Jesus’ sayings, was a hard one to hear. He reminded us that we are saved by faith, not by our deeds, but this statement from Jesus seems to be making God’s forgiveness conditional on our deeds. I don’t fully understand it either, but as I was listening to Martin’s sermon, an analogy came to my mind:
Picture someone who stores important things in a jar on a shelf in his house. Whenever anything of note happens to him, he stores it in there. This would include good things that happen, as well as bad ones. In fact, recently, people have done quite a lot of bad things to him, and rather than let them go, he has stored a record of these in the jar, so it is now quite full. He also recognises however, that he has committed sins against God, and has been praying for forgiveness. God then speaks to him while he is praying one day and says to him,
“You know, I have heard your prayers and I have been trying to give you the forgiveness you have been asking for, but whenever I go to put it in the jar where you keep your important things, there isn’t any space. It is full of the record of all the debts that people owe you. If you let go of those debts, there will be room in the jar for me to put the gifts of forgiveness I have for you.”
So, I guess the more of those debts we forgive and clear out of the jar, the more space there is for God’s forgiveness, which is freely given, to be received by us.
It is one way of looking at this part of the Lord’s prayer. The difficulty, however, is not just knowing what to do, but actually doing it. It seems so hard and unfair to let go of hurt, hate, anger, etc, but if we choose to fill our jars with them, there won’t be space for God’s forgiveness in our lives. We will end up being bitter, spiteful and vengeful. God doesn’t want that for us. This, perhaps, is why Jesus’ statement seems so harsh. Forgiving others is necessary to free those who have offended us, but just as important, is the fact that it also frees us from carrying burdens we were meant to leave at the foot of the cross.
Resources:
[1] Matthew 6 v12
[2] Matthew 6 v14-15
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Last week’s reflection: More than an Event by Dennis Ginter
Contributed by David Makanjuola; © David Makanjuola