And Forgive Us Our Sins

Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins,

This is the part of the prayer that lets you know that this is NOT The Lord’s Prayer. If it were Jesus’ prayer, (because He is sinless) He would have to skip this part.

You know, there's two types of people in the world: those who are depraved, and those who are in denial about their depravity. Fact is, we really just aren't that good.

If we compare ourselves to the world, we may be able to compile a long list of wonderful things about us. We eat healthier than some, we workout more than others, we don't curse, or tailgate or are at the mercy of many kinds of deplorable addictions. Don't get me wrong, many of us have come a long way from being something way worse to where we are now and is that not a reason to rejoice? Of course it is, God is good and He honors His people with all kinds of blessings. However, even that 'goodness' still points to an outside source. Our only hope for being (or becoming) any kind of good is humbling ourselves and following the directions that don't come instinctively to us. Even when we feel accomplished, we now that there's still that pull; we talk under our breath at the weird things weird people do. We secretly discount people based on outward appearances or due to their base conversation or actions. We withdraw ourselves from them based on protecting our comfort. Maybe not you but possibly someone you know.

When we look at God's standard of Righteousness and the lengths He went to in order to show us the ultimate Love, we quickly see how we don't measure up. Somehow this doesn't feel as bad though because it's obvious that NO ONE meets that standard and its therefore easy to still protect my 'self-worth' in light of that truth. Something very subtle has crept into our midst: an unbalanced view of self. On one hand, we have a heartfelt prompting to encourage people's self-esteem because depression is a serious reality. And on the other hand, we have to be ever watchful for the disease of vainglory.

You may be saying to yourself; I get what you're saying, but what does any of this have to do with this verse? More than we may initially realize. Without a proper view of yourself, this passage rolls quickly off the tongue in a very passive way. It doesn't feel like it applies unless I know I’ve made a choice to wrong someone and that it can't possibly apply if I've made no such choice. I think this verse may apply in ways we can't even imagine. And here's the difference: Depraved people can humble themselves under the idea of the possibility and be sorrowful and approachable about what they may not know, while people in denial have already decided that this is not directed toward them. Humility is the starting point of confession which leads to asking for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Many confuse humility with plain sorrow but they’re not the same and not all sorrow produces good.

Here's The word;

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Humility -->repentance --> forgiveness --> reconciliation

It seems as if this concept has been twisted and because we promote the benefit of 'releasing yourself' or not holding grudges, forgiveness has become the destination: We don't ask for forgiveness, for forgiveness sake. The goal of all of this is to attain to and stay in right relationship with God. Furthermore, it’s not just realizing that we have the ability, but the propensity to make choices that push us away from Him. That alone is reason enough to stay on the humble side of life. I know I’m really not that good. I know I make conscious choices that take me out of loving intimacy with my Father. SO when I see the exhortation to ask for forgiveness, my focus isn’t on how good or bad I am, it’s on how good God is and how badly I want to be close to Him.


Undeservedly In Him,
Cros