Matthew 6:5-15
The LORD's Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
God has given Him the authority to forgive others so He did...So Jesus went around routinely and like He the ability to forgive, because He does have God's authority to forgive...When Peter ask Jesus how many times we are to forgive, He told Him not seven, but seven times seventy...Jesus wants us to have this ability to forgive others as part of our character and personality...So in the middle of the Lord's Prayer, He teaches us the importance of forgiveness...He tells us to pray to our Father and ask Him to forgive us of our debts, as we will forgive our debtors...And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...For if we forgive others of their trespasses and sins against us, then our heavenly Father will also forgive us...But if we do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses...
Author Philip Yancey wrote these things about Jesus' teachings on forgiveness...“Instead, in a stunning reversal, Jesus instructed us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”...At the center of the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus taught us to recite, lurks the unnatural act of forgiveness.”...“Forgiveness breaks the cycle of blame and loosens the stranglehold of guilt...It accomplishes these two things through a remarkable linkage, placing the forgiver on the same side as the party who did the wrong.”...“In a cruel irony, a refusal to forgive works its negative energy most powerfully in the wronged party...Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a master of forgiveness, describes the process: To forgive is not just to be altruistic; in my view it is the best form of self-interest...The process of forgiving does not exclude hatred and anger...These emotions are all part of being human...When I talk of forgiveness I mean the ability to let go of the right to revenge and to slip the chains of rage that bind you to the person who harmed you...When you forgive you are free of the hatred and anger that locks you in a state of victimhood...If you can find it in yourself to forgive, you can move on, and you may even help the perpetrator to become a better person.”...“Christianity has a principle, “Hate the sin but love the sinner,” which is more easily preached than practiced...If Christians could simply recover that practice, modeled so exquisitely by Jesus, we would go a long way toward fulfilling our calling as dispensers of God’s grace.”...“At last I understood: in the final analysis, forgiveness is an act of faith...By forgiving another, I am trusting that God is a better Justice-Maker than I am...By forgiving, I release my own right to get even and leave all issues of fairness for God to work out...I leave in God’s hands the scales that must balance justice and mercy.”...“Jesus requires—no, demands—a response of forgiveness.”...