Word for the Day
October 18
By: Evang. Cascille Hammack
"For if you forgive other people when they sin
against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others
their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6:14,15
Forgiving others is so important that Jesus said if you
fail to do it, you will not inherit eternal life in heaven. Our very salvation depends upon our forgiveness of others.
We are all wronged in many ways, by many people, but Jesus warned us that if we do not forgive them from our hearts, we will
not be saved. The Lord sees into our hearts and a stone of unforgiveness in the heart will destroy the soul both here
and eternally. We must wholly forgive everyone who has ever wronged us in any way. When we do, God is merciful
to us and forgives us of our sins before Him.
Jesus warns again in Matthew 18:21-35 that the forgiveness of God though freely given to repentant sinners,
remains conditional dependent upon a person's willingness to forgive others. A person can forfeit God's forgiveness
by maintaining an unforgiving and bitter heart. In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus told the parable of the unmerciful servant.
The servant was forgiven great debt and went out and demanded payment from someone who owed him and had him thrown in
prison until he could pay the debt. Other servants observed this unjust behavior and reported it to the master.
Matthew 18:32-35 says, "Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just
as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should
pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive
your brother or sister from your heart.”
As we pray, we must be concerned with sins and a willingness to forgive everyone who has harmed us.
Forgiving others is an important principle by which God forgives us. One day when Jesus finished praying, one of His
disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." (Luke 11:1) Jesus said to
them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your Name, Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."
Many have memorized the Lord's prayer, but we must not just know the Words He gave us to pray, but do what He says in them
from our hearts. In Matthew 6:5-14, He taught also about prayer. Again, He instructed,
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as
we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from the evil one."
Let us pray this from our hearts and do what He says, asking for His
mercy and forgiveness and forgiving all who have ever sinned against us from our hearts. If we do this, He will be merciful
to us and forgive us. If we do not do this, the Lord will not forgive us and we will not inherit eternal life.