God grants us grace; we need to extend it to others as well.
Read / Listen
Read Matthew 6:5-15 (Concentrate on v12)
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 13
Q. Can we pay this debt ourselves?
A. Certainly not.
Actually, we increase our guilt every day.
Summary
When I was a kid, many stores offered a service known as layaway. A customer would bring an item to the layaway department, and make a small payment on that item. The store associate would mark down the customer's information and how much was owed and hold on to the item. Over a period of time, the customer could continue to make payments on the item until they paid for it in full, and then they would take it home.
What would it be like to go to the layaway department to make your final payment on the item, only to find that it was now going to cost you more to pay for that item? Each time you would come back expecting to pay off the item, and each time the cost of the item increased.
With our sin, not only can we not make the payment to appease God’s wrath, but the debt increases more every day!
Dig Deeper
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he included a short prayer of confession in the Lord’s Prayer:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (v12).
We offer prayers of confession because of the constant increase in our sin. No matter how often we try to keep ourselves from sin, we cannot completely live a sin free life. It simply is not possible, no matter how righteous a person may appear. All it takes is an unkind word, a seemingly small lie, or an impure thought. They are all sins.
Just because you sin, and your sin increases every day, does not mean that you should stop asking for forgiveness or give up on walking God’s righteous path. In teaching His followers how to pray, Jesus commands you to continue to ask for forgiveness from God.
Not only that, but you must grant others forgiveness too. When Jesus is teaching the Lord’s Prayer, He takes the act of forgiveness one step further. Not only must you ask God for forgiveness, you need to pass along what you've been given to others. You cannot live with bitter and angry hearts, holding on to the sin that others have committed against you.
You are to live with grace. God grants us his grace, so we need to give it to others as well. Who do you need to forgive?
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is in heaven, your name is holy.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Grant me forgiveness for my sin, and help me to forgive others.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 6
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