Do You Need to Change Your Glasses?

Matthew 6:9-13  “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts (sins), as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who sin against us). And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'”

Matthew 6:14-15  “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” 

People can be really cruel. Sometimes people who are hurting and wounded lash out and hurt others. Given how cruel people can be, it seems that someone could do something that we feel is impossible to forgive. But Jesus taught us to pray, “God forgive us as we forgive others.” Why did He do that? And while it seems easier to forgive others for things they didn’t intend to do, how do we forgive someone who has intentionally hurt us?

Let’s look at how Jesus handled it. While Jesus was dying on the cross and the soldiers were casting lots for his clothes, he said “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). What? Anyone could see that these guys were professionals and knew exactly what they were doing. But Jesus didn’t look at them through the same glasses through which others saw them. He didn’t see the soldiers as the enemy; they were who he came to save. Instead, He recognizes that the real battle is between His Father and Satan, and He knows they are fighting over the souls of all men, including the soldiers. On that level, they were clueless pawns; victims who were being lost in the war for men’s souls.

For us to really forgive someone, we have to look at them through God’s eyes. Then we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds and can test and approve what God’s will is  ― His good, pleasing, and perfect will: forgiveness. Instead of looking at others through a lens of our pain or of their actions, which makes it virtually impossible to forgive them, we must change our glasses. We must see them through God’s eyes.