I know this sounds impossible, right? I mean, how can a prayer straight from the son of God deny us salvation?
Well, I’ll show you how!
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Let’s take a look at the prayer; it’s in Matthew 6:9-13 (CJB):
Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us the food we need today.
Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
And do not lead us into hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For kingship, power and glory are yours forever. Amen.’
Let’s concentrate on that line in the middle, you know, the one that says God should forgive us as we forgive others. What is that verse really saying?
It’s saying that if we do not forgive others, then God should not forgive us!
And that interpretation is confirmed by verse 14 when Yeshua says:
For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
So, if you are not willing to forgive those who sin against you, then God will not forgive you.
And Yeshua further confirms this in the parable about the man who was forgiven a great debt he owed, but refused to forgive a small debt owed to him (Matthew 18:21-35) .
Now, you may say, “Yo, Bro! Wait a minute! This was before Yeshua shed his blood for us, by which we are forgiven! We’re golden.”
I have to disagree. Yeshua said if we do not forgive, then God won’t forgive us. There’s no escape clause, no “But what if..?”, no option other than we forgive or we aren’t forgiven.
Now can you see why I say that the Lord’s Prayer can actually deny your salvation?
Sure, Christianity makes a big deal out of love thy neighbor, but it seems to me Yeshua is making a bigger deal out of forgive those who sin against you. And I can see why- doesn’t Yeshua tell us in Luke 6:32-36 that even sinners love those who love them? And aren’t we hurt by those who love us, and don’t we hurt those we love? It’s part of the human experience, which doesn’t always stop us from loving each other.
But when it comes to forgiving those who hurt us, that seems to be much harder to do, doesn’t it? Even those we love!
C’mon, be honest- how many times have you felt that someone just doesn’t deserve to be forgiven? The fact is we don’t have the right or the option to make that call- that call is up to God. What we are told is our responsibility is to forgive that person, no matter what our emotions tell us.
And when we forgive someone, don’t think that it makes them right with God, because it doesn’t- it makes YOU right with God!
This is the truth about forgiveness: it doesn’t do anything at all for the one we forgive, but it does a lot for us, in that it makes us right with God and it is the ONLY way to make the hurt go away.
The take-away from today’s message is simple…forgive others so that you will be forgiven and to make the hurt go away.
And here is a tip that helps me to forgive others: I imagine that person standing before God at Judgement Day, and if they haven’t done t’shuvah (repentance), when I think of what they will have to endure for all eternity, well…all I can feel is pity for them, and that feeling of pity is what helps me to forgive them. Maybe it will help you, too?
Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!