07/03/2018
If I were to ask you what your most persistent sin was, what would you tell me? If I were to question you as to what stands most often between you and answered prayer, what would you say to me? Would you respond covetousness? Maybe! How about lying? No? Perhaps lust? Not this? True, you might do any of these things, and more, from time to time, but I dare say that none of these are your most flagrant and unresolved sin, that would be loving your neighbor enough to forgive them.
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."”
Mark 11:24-25 ESV
Forgiveness is more than a few words; it requires us to love someone as much, and perhaps more, than we did before they trespassed against us. This one act brings more prayer warriors to their knees in defeat than any other shortcoming. We go boldly with confidence into our prayer closet feeling rather smug in our righteousness, and pray mighty prayers, then walk out certain that God will do these things we have asked ... yet something isn’t right.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray, and the precepts were simple, but one stood out as paramount, and we have a tendency to swiftly scoot right past it as we pray... we don’t tarry on the words “as we forgive our debtors.” This is the great indictment in our prayer life. We tend to forget the debts of others, but do we actually forgive them? Our forgiveness purifies us, and clears not only our conscience, but cleanses our souls, and restores relationship... it returns us from our prodigal nature, and allows the Father to greet us on the road home with complete forgiveness.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:14-15 ESV
You are probably thinking that you already do this; you will argue that you do forgive... but when you search your soul is that true? Have you returned to that place where you can not only say the words “I forgive”, but also embrace that person and kill the fattened calf for them? Listen to the words of the prodigal son as he realizes what he has done...
“I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
Luke 15:18 ESV
There it is... the three letter word “sin”, and both the son and the father know that it has occurred. It has such a devastating effect on their relationship that it is the first thing the son brings up when he meets his father on the road home...
“And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'”
Luke 15:21 ESV
He couldn’t wait to say those words of contrition, but on the other hand, the father never responds in words of his own, but with the true act of love and forgiveness... had you ever noticed this before? Listen...
“But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.”
Luke 15:22-24 ESV
Not one mention of forgiveness. We have a saying for this kind of deep understanding: “It goes without saying.” This Father’s love and forgiveness went without saying.
So the relationship between the father and the son had returned to a place where it wasn’t just the same, but better. Do you think he would have killed the fattened calf for this Son before the sin had occurred? Well, not according to the eldest son who had never wandered...
“but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'”
Luke 15:29-30 ESV
This rant by the older brother tells us of his father’s forgiveness, but he also reveals the nature of his own inability to forgive. This is the son who will one day rule over his father’s possessions, so he MUST understand the reality of forgiveness, and his father teaches him by saying...
“And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"”
Luke 15:31-32 ESV
So which one of these three represents us? We like to tell this story because it gives us hope that we can come home when we have sinned... most of us envision ourselves as the son who needs forgiveness. Is this who we are? We also like to tell this story because it gives us comfort when the father forgives without a word, and embraces in true love and forgiveness... are we that father? Are we able to forgive like that? But, none of us wants to see himself as the elder brother who has trouble forgiving... is that because this is where we find our greatest challenge? Is this the role we find ourselves in most often? Of the three, is this who we really are?
Saying “I forgive you” isn’t all that hard to do, but meaning it, and doing so in love is. The words allow us to placate ourselves, and to mask our shortcoming. Saying those words is like painting over the drawing a child has penciled on a wall... it doesn’t erase it... only covers it up. To truly remove the stick figures of sin from the walls of our lives requires us to scrub and wash them off... then paint. Otherwise, time will bring those images back to the surface. Hate and disdain will always surface, lest they are lovingly removed.
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”
Proverbs 10:12 ESV
Jesus gave us the solution for our inability to forgive in the Words of a commandment. In these few words He led us back from the abyss to forgiveness by teaching us what the father of the prodigal demonstrated...
“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39 ESV
Love, it is the underlying power by which God forgives us, and is what we must employ in our forgiveness of others. Are you ready to love and forgive when you just want to forget?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the lesson of the prodigal son that reveals to us how often we need to forgive. Thank you for showing us that we are more like the elder brother than either the prodigal son or his Father. Help us Merciful Lord to put down our anger and hate, and to pick up the love that will remove all trace of simply forgetting; replacing it with true forgiveness. Teach us to forgive so that we too can be forgiven. Bring love into our prayer closet, and show us how to use it Father. Let us not only hear the words of Jesus, but help us to take action with them in our heart. Lead us to embrace those who have trespassed against us, and in this way let us feel your arms about us. You are Great Holy Father, and love us beyond our ability to understand. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who greets us with open arms, and rewards our forgiveness in prayer.
Rich Forbes