ON THE VANGUARD

FORGIVENESS
“’Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’”
Matthew 6:12

One of my current favorite songs is Matthew West’s, “Forgiveness.” Allow me to share just a few of the lyrics with you from this song. “It'll clear the bitterness away / It can even set a prisoner free / There is no end to what it's power can do / So, let it go and be amazed / By what you see through eyes of grace / The prisoner that it really frees is you.” These lyrics make me question as does West, do we want to be free? When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He added a portion concerning forgiveness in both our asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness to others. With this in mind, let us look at a few of the words in this verse.
The word ‘forgive’ is the Greek word APHIEMI, meaning to send away or bid farewell. Another definition of this word is divorce. Jesus instructed His disciples here to divorce ourselves from our debts. But what are our debts? This is the Greek word OPHEILEMA, which translates into that which is owed, legally due, or offensive. Putting these two words together we find that Jesus was stating in this prayer that we need to divorce ourselves from our offenses and what we think is owed to us.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. In fact, in many ways it may be easy for us to seek forgiveness from God concerning ourselves. If that is the easy part, then what is the hard part? I would like to suggest the forgiveness of those who have offended us. It is these people, these OPHEILETES, these who have bound us and offended us, that we also are to ‘aphiemi’. Still, these people have caused us pain, these people have hurt our feelings, and these people have turned on us. Why is it that we are to forgive them? Wouldn’t it be easier for God just to deal with them and rain down a little justice? Believe me, I have given that thought. That is not how God works, though. Our God is a God of love and mercy.
It is this same mercy that we are to extend. And it is for our blessing and freedom that forgiveness must be given to others. As West shares in his song, the person who is freed by us giving forgiveness to others is ourselves. In many ways Paul reiterates this truth in Galatians 5:1 when he writes that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. As such, we should not allow ourselves to become slaves again to slavery. When we fail to forgive others, we place ourselves back in slavery, and thus miss the blessing that He desires for us. Isn’t it time we walk in the blessing? If it is, then it must also be the time in which we walk in forgives, of both ourselves and those who have offended us.