| The Golden Gate of Prayer |
Chapter 13 |
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In one of our Lord’s parables we have the same lesson taught again in most emphatic way. Our debt to God is represented by ten thousand talents, a vast sum, while our neighbor’s debt to us is only a hundred pence — less than one millionth part of the ten thousand talents, a proportion so small as to be almost inappreciable. We fret and chafe over the wrongs and injuries done to us by others, as if they were really enormous. This view of the greatness of our sins against God in comparison with the evil our neighbor has done to us, should make us ashamed of our bitterness. God forgives our vast debt, our ten thousand talents, freely and fully. The behavior of the servant who had been forgiven by his lord, toward his fellow servant whose debt to him was so small in comparison, is too often repeated by those who claim to have received God’s forgiveness and then go out to exact of others the last farthing. The closing words of the parable we should never forget. The old debt to God once remitted comes back with all its crushing weight: “So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.”
A lesson which is taught so plainly by our Lord and emphasized by so many repetitions must be a most important one. The duty of forgiving others is not merely one of the refinements of Christian culture, something which adds to the beauty of a Christian character, though not essential to it; rather it is a vital element in every true Christian life. Unless we have forgiven those who have wronged us, or are ready to do so from the heart, we cannot ask God to forgive us. Luther uses strong language: “When thou sayest, ‘I will not forgive,’ and standest before God with thy precious pater noster, and mumblest with thy mouth, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ what is that but saying: ‘I do not forgive him, and so do not thou forgive me. Thou hast told me to forgive, and rather than obey I will renounce thee, and thy heaven, and all, and be the devil’s for evermore’?”
We look to our Lord’s life for the exemplification of all his teachings. It is easy to find many illustrations of this lesson of forgiveness in the gospel story. The patience of Jesus under wrong and injustice was wonderful. Indeed the more his heart was hurt the more of gentleness and love did it give out. There are certain fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the axe that cuts into their wood. So was it with the life of Jesus. Wrong or injury done to him only drew out more tenderness, sweeter love. We have a remarkable example of this in the very moment of crucifixion. It was when the nails were being driven through his hands and feet that he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
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