Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

Jesus had just finished praying when one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). So Jesus gave to them The Lord’s Prayer. (vs. 2-4)

One of the things Jesus taught them was to pray for forgiveness of their sins. In addition to that they were taught to forgive every one that sinned against them.

This prayer is also found in Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus made it clear that we must be forgiven and forgiving.

If we forgive others, Jesus said, our heavenly Father will forgive us. But if we do not forgive, our Father will not forgive us. (vs. 14,15)

There is forgiveness with God, as Psalm 130:4 tells us. And when God forgives, he forgets.

“I, even I, am he that blotted out by transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

Someone wants confessed to having a hard time forgiving others. When he forgave them, he said, he could never forget what they had done. Well, just remember that, when we confess our sins to God, he forgives and forgets.

The story is told about a husband who did something really stupid. His wife chewed him out for it. He apologized, they made up.

However, from time to time, she would mention what he had done.

“Honey,” he finally said to her one day, “why do you keep bringing that up? I thought your policy was to forgive and forget.”

“It is, she said. “I just don’t want you to forget that I’ve forgiven and forgotten.”