Mt. 6:12
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Which word do you use here? Debts? Sins? Trespasses? They’re related words, but each with their own subtle emphasis. Debts asks what we owe God but haven’t given him. Sins refers to actions that put ourselves before God. Trespasses speaks of straying beyond the boundaries where we’re permitted and going where we shouldn’t or doing something we shouldn’t. Put them together and you get a fuller picture of our brokenness and what it means for us to fall short of his glory as Paul writes in Romans. So far from where we should be, and yet God in his boundless grace and love forgives us and accepts us and releases us.
These words perhaps also speak of what other owe or have done to us. Are we willing to reflect God’s image and respond to them as he has to us? Can we forgive? Dare we forgive?
Our Father…
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