And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins." (11:25, 26)
The above verse about prayer is mentioned in Matthew 6:5-15, the end part of series of teaching about a prayer. “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Though Mark stated it positively while Matthew negatively the contents are same.
Forgiveness is the most important part in human relationship but the most difficult part to put into practice. It is important for a broken human relationship only can be restored by this. It is difficult for we don’t know how to forgive others.
I’m not saying the forgiveness which is practiced formally. We forgive others by saying but actually we don’t do the work of forgiving others. As we see the parable of a prodigal son, if my son asks forgiveness then I may forgive him. If my friend who insulted me or cheated me asks forgiveness then I may forgive him. However, if others don’t recognize their fault or do not ask forgiveness then it is hard for us to forgive them. Furthermore, there remains certain level of scars though I have forgiven them from my heart. This is an existential limitation of human, hard to overcome.
In my point of view, this problem also may be overcome by relationship with God only. So the author of gospel might say that the way to be forgiven by God is to forgive others. Those who know God’s forgiveness only are able to forgive man’s fault.
There are some who feel difficult to forgive the fault of friend, family, relative and fellow Christian. They may suffer from a guilty conscience due to this. We have to find out a new way. Entering into the fact that God has forgiven us through Jesus’ Christ is the way.
The above verse about prayer is mentioned in Matthew 6:5-15, the end part of series of teaching about a prayer. “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Though Mark stated it positively while Matthew negatively the contents are same.
Forgiveness is the most important part in human relationship but the most difficult part to put into practice. It is important for a broken human relationship only can be restored by this. It is difficult for we don’t know how to forgive others.
I’m not saying the forgiveness which is practiced formally. We forgive others by saying but actually we don’t do the work of forgiving others. As we see the parable of a prodigal son, if my son asks forgiveness then I may forgive him. If my friend who insulted me or cheated me asks forgiveness then I may forgive him. However, if others don’t recognize their fault or do not ask forgiveness then it is hard for us to forgive them. Furthermore, there remains certain level of scars though I have forgiven them from my heart. This is an existential limitation of human, hard to overcome.
In my point of view, this problem also may be overcome by relationship with God only. So the author of gospel might say that the way to be forgiven by God is to forgive others. Those who know God’s forgiveness only are able to forgive man’s fault.
There are some who feel difficult to forgive the fault of friend, family, relative and fellow Christian. They may suffer from a guilty conscience due to this. We have to find out a new way. Entering into the fact that God has forgiven us through Jesus’ Christ is the way.
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