I was in the third grade, and it was time for the annual revival at Dad’s church at Laird Hill. As a third-grader who would rather be anywhere else on a Sunday evening but had no choice, I sat on a pew near the front with my legs dangling a few inches from the floor as the guest preacher started.
Not every sermon I have heard in my life has stuck. As a preacher’s kid, I can assure you I heard quite a few that no one else ever heard, but from time to time something takes root. I can remember to this day what Dr. Parrott said as he began to preach on the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. He focused in on forgiveness in verse 12 and said, “The most dangerous prayer we can pray is the one Jesus taught us to pray when he said, ‘forgive us the same way we forgive other people.’”
Have you ever really thought about God’s forgiveness in light of this? Think about it – if we expect God to forgive us, we must forgive others. If we don’t forgive others, we shouldn’t expect to be forgiven.
Jesus leaves us little doubt about this in his parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:35, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Forgiveness can be so hard, though, and it seems Dr. Parrott was right – the Lord’s Prayer is dangerous if we take it seriously.
What do we do?
In her book, “Tramp for the Lord,” Corrie Ten Boom wrote about how she learned how to forgive when it is hard. She had been a prisoner in WWII at the Nazi concentration camp of Ravensbruck. Her sister had died there. As for Corrie, one guard had been particularly instrumental in the torture both she and her sister endured. But Corrie’s faith was strong.
When war ended and she was released, she began preaching. One evening, as she had finished preaching and was greeting people, a large blonde man approached her. “Fraulein, what you said was so true. The grace of God knows no bounds, and we can all be forgiven. What I want to know is can I be forgiven by you.”
She was looking into the eyes of the man who had tortured her and her sister, and he was asking for forgiveness. With a quick prayer she asked God would help her love and forgive this man because she was unable to do it herself. Then she said a miracle happened. A surge of power went through her body, lifted her arm, and with God’s help she said, “I forgive you,” as she took his hand in hers.
It’s no easy thing to forgive, but God expects it of us. Forgiveness comes from the heart, and thank God he will give us that type of heart if we ask.
