The Lord’s Prayer: A Speck of Dust

Splinters, blisters, and paper cuts. Agitated, irritated, potentially infected. That’s the worst!

Even just a small speck of dust in our eye can do the same!

Through the years I’ve found that dealing with people can be even more painful than any blister or speck of dust ever could be. Disagreements and disputes that led to hurt feelings or a bitter taste of hardness that we wish could have been avoided altogether.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He gave them this line, “forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.” But if I’m honest, most of the time, I either don’t want to forgive them or I’m not convinced I can. Forgiveness isn’t always easy.

Why are we so reluctant to forgive?

Self-righteousness. We won’t usually admit it but self-righteousness runs deeply in our veins. Others’ actions are measured by our own sense of what’s right and wrong. What often makes us quick to judge and slow to forgive may be that we can’t find much fault in our doing.

Why is that such a big deal? Because my extension of forgiveness towards others is hemmed to the same garment of God’s forgiveness toward me. And until I see myself as a sinner needing forgiveness it’s extremely difficult to extend it.

Self-righteous people can become some of the most hard-hearted, grace-less people we know. They [we] often judge and condemn instead of showing mercy and forgiveness. They [we] can reflect an aura of pride and arrogance instead of one of empathy and compassion.

People who constantly point out the speck of dust in others’ eyes and fail to see the plank of their own self-righteous living have blinded themselves to the need for God’s forgiveness.

Forgiveness is difficult. Perhaps the number one excuse for our failure to forgive is, “but you don’t know what they did to me?” And in most cases they’re probably right. We don’t know how much pain someone else has inflicted that has affected their ability to live, love, laugh, think, trust, or move past this situation to enjoy life again.

Much of what makes forgiveness difficult is we don’t truly understand its intent. Untangling the emotions of someone else’s words and actions isn’t always easy. Forgiveness is removing the barrier of offense that looms between the offender and the offended. It’s shoveling out the roots of bitterness in our heart. It’s engineering a heart of grace toward them.

It’s realizing that caring for our own soul is choosing not to respond in like kind. It’s realizing that surgically replacing a heart of stone with grace, though it is a costly procedure, is well worth the price for our ultimate good.

Forgiveness isn’t playing fair. It’s not establishing our own rules. It doesn’t follow the norm. It doesn’t have an agenda. It’s not looking for retribution or revenge. It’s not looking to get even or get ahead. It’s not doing all the things we’re inclined or encouraged to do by the world around us. And that’s what makes it difficult!

We desire control. Somehow in our minds we believe that when someone offends us that they now owe us. And we play the role of some quasi god moving them around like a pawn on our chess board of repayment.

We believe harboring unforgiveness leaves the offender in the wake of our ensuing retribution. We try to control and manipulate the circumstances to take advantage of a later situation where we can benefit, ignoring the pain and pent up anger from their past hurt.

We constantly suppress the emotional baggage of pain they’ve caused because we’re confident a payday is coming. We want to be the prison warden of our offender only to realize later that we were the prisoner of our own unforgiveness.

What does forgiveness do?

Forgiveness humbles us. Jesus said, “forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.” There’s a correlation between our willingness to forgive and the subsequent forgiveness of God toward us. Self-righteousness cannot co-exist with forgiveness. When we see someone else’s offense we’re reminded that we too are guilty of the ugly stain of sin.

To be humbled is a gracious work of God that allows us to see Him, ourselves, and others through a lens that puts us all in proper perspective. We’ve been forgiven by Him and we forgive ourselves and others through the miraculous work of His strength and power.

Forgiveness frees us. There’s not a much worse feeling than the feeling of being suffocated. Wrapped up. In chains. Bound. No way out. But that’s exactly what harboring unforgiveness will do. Leaving you feeling stuck, with no way out, struggling just to survive.

We must remember that we cannot control them. We can’t make them see what we see. We can’t force them to apologize or change their behavior. We can’t require them to take responsibility for their actions or own their part in our pain. Forgiveness really is the work of God in us.

Forgiveness is so counter-intuitive. When we free someone else from the debt it actually frees us. When we say, “you don’t owe me anymore,” the weight is lifted, the chains are broken, the lock is picked, and the door swings open for you to be free again.

God is granting us a life of freedom; a life that’s flowing with truth and grace. One where we say, “I know what you did but I forgive you.” Here’s why we can say that; God already paid for that offense. And He paid for yours too. We can forgive because we’ve been forgiven. So choose forgiveness. Choose to be free!