Chris Campbell

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Beloved in the body of Christ,

Today's Gospel from Matthew introduces us to the Lord's Prayer. Central to the prayer and necessary for our redemption is the notion of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is one of the most challenging aspects of Christianity. When we are wronged by someone often we seek out vengeance, or at least wish for some type of evil on the perpetrator. Often this is understood as "justice", but what we are called to do is to give up our legalistic human understanding of justice and instead turn over our very being to God.

What this means in the sense of forgiveness is that we should forgive others, just as we wish to be forgiven. This is what we continually ask when we repeat the Lord's Prayer. The danger is that we can often ignore what we are saying when we pray.

I know often in my life that I find myself struggling to forgive others. From small things, like the person who cut me off in traffic yesterday, to the more intense things like the guy who assaulted me several years ago. I can sometimes will myself into forgiving the small things but when it comes to the truly awful things, the things which have violated my body and soul, I could not even dream of forgiveness. So what am I to do?

The answer is why Jesus gives us this perfect prayer. When it comes to forgiving others who have truly wronged and violated us, all we can do is pray for the strength to forgive, and pray for God's forgiveness of us and our enemies. We have to offer up to God all the things which separate us from Love; especially our hate and wrath, however justified we may think it to be.

God can release us from our pain, but only if we offer it up to Him first. This is the efficacy of prayer, not that we can ask God for whatever we want and He will provide it, but that He is already ready to provide us with what we need and all we must do is prepare ourselves to receive what is truly right by letting go of what we think is right. As Jesus says: your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

We are imperfect beings, and the Father knows this. So when you pray, pray as Jesus taught, and be willing to forgive. For even if you cannot forgive by your own will, God can give you the relief of your burden as long as you are willing to let Him take it up.

May you live in Truth, Peace, and Love,
—Christopher Campbell