Lord's Prayer: Forgive UsSample

Asking God to forgive us implies we are not right with God. Here’s how he forgives us.

God is loving, and God is just. These are not antithetical. Because God is overflowing with love for all creation, he’s bent on making things right again. People are the pinnacle of God’s creation, meant to reflect the image of God and bring his presence and work to his creation. Instead, we’re often more guilty of acting the worst of all his creation, vandalizing his image, and undoing his work. This is the story of the Bible.

But as a precious part of his creation, God wants to make you right with him. Here’s how he does it. He comes to earth as a human being. He takes on the very image of the image-bearers he made. He lives as us, faces what we face, but overcomes where we fail. He shows us what a human being truly is.

And as a human being, he gives his life for us and for all creation. God, as a human, dying because of sins. Not his sins. Our sins, and all the sins of creation. Jesus dies on a cross for sin. On the shoulders of Jesus and with every drop of his blood, God condemned sin so we would no longer have to pay the debt or carry the burden.

That’s how God forgives us.

When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins,” we’re not just asking for God to look the other way. Jesus is inviting us to acknowledge the price he paid. He’s inviting us to trust what he’s done for our forgiveness.

Some people wonder how God can ever forgive them. Or they wonder what they have to do to repay God all the debts of their sin. Don’t go there. Go to Jesus instead. Take hold of what Jesus has done for you. Dare to trust him for your forgiveness and standing before God. That’s what faith is.

Consider this today…

Where do you have doubts about your forgiveness? Or are you afraid God is going to judge you? Today, pray “Father, forgive me, not because I deserve it or can ever repay you. Forgive me because of what Jesus did for me.”