Every time I hear the Our Father given to us in Scripture and every time I pray it, I always find myself focusing on the part where we are asking the Lord to forgive us our trespasses…as we forgive those who trespass against us. That statement always makes me pause because I know, in my own sinfulness, there are people in my life for whom I am withholding forgiveness.

Y’all, the fact is: it is really hard getting along with people. The fact is: people hurt us – they say things to us that cause deep pain; they do things to us that inflict such suffering; they cut wounds into our hearts, some that last a lifetime. And let’s be honest, it’s difficult to open that door to forgiveness toward others sometimes. But what the Lord is teaching us in this prayer is that it’s not only possible…but it’s necessary. If we want to be like Christ, if we want to strive for holiness, if we want to be examples of God’s love in the world, we have to open that door to forgiving those who have hurt us. We don’t have an option.

Jesus knew how hard that would be for us. But that didn’t stop Him from telling us that we must do it. AND, better still, He gave us the ultimate example of what it looks like. As He hung upon the cross, what were some of the last words spoken by our Lord? “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

Do you think that came easy for Jesus? Now, of course, He is God…He can do the impossible. But we have to remember that He also offered that forgiveness in His humanity. So, we have to follow His lead.

Now, I will say, caveat, there is a difference between forgiving and forgetting. The Lord never wants us to put ourselves in a position where we are constantly going to get hurt. Offering forgiveness does not mean that we have to welcome someone back into our lives. It’s perfectly okay and sometimes appropriate to put up boundaries with individuals who have hurt us. But we still have to forgive them. Because when we hold onto resentment, when we hold onto that lack of forgiveness, in the end, it only hurts us. It acts as a poison that causes an infection to grow in our hearts, one that will eat at us and eventually cause us to die.

This morning, call to mind the one person in our lives that we find it really difficult to forgive. Bring the Lord into that. Ask Him to open the door to offering that forgiveness. Ask Him to change our hearts. We might just find that once we do that, offering that forgiveness becomes a little bit more manageable…and in the end, we can become more like Christ in the process.

Photo: Jacob Bentzinger. Used under Unsplash license.