“Forgive us our debts.” Matthew 6:12
Jesus teaches us to pray: “forgive us our debts.” Imagine someone owes you $100,000, and one day he or she comes to you and says, “I am asking you to write off this debt.” That’s a big ask! But Jesus invites us to come and make this ask of God.
When we ask God to forgive our debts, we confess not only that we have failed to pay, but that we cannot pay. We don’t go to God and ask for terms. We don’t say, “Father, I will make this up to You by being a better mother, a better student, a better Christian, etc.” To pray “Forgive us our debts” is to say to God, “I cannot pay. Ever. My only option, Father, is to plead that You will forgive my debt. Wipe my slate clean.”
Why would a Christian need to pray this prayer?
When we come to Christ in faith and repentance, we are justified fully, completely, and forever. God drops all charges against us: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). If God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, why would we need to pray “Forgive us our debts” this week?
Because the point of this prayer is not to remove condemnation, but to restore fellowship with God. God’s justified children sin in many ways, but our sins do not bring us into condemnation. Our sins clog up our relationship with God, and we need restoration.
If you know God as your Father, and it is your desire to walk as closely with Him as possible for a redeemed sinner in this world, then pray this prayer.
