Next in the series on the Lord’s prayer is, “Forgive us our sins.” Right now, I think we can all be honest and say that we pray that part of the prayer more than any other. We’re constantly asking God to forgive our sins. We’re constantly repenting for the things we’ve done, whether it’s something we say, think, or do. A day doesn’t go by where we don’t say, “I repent!”
When I hear this part of the prayer, I hear someone who has laid down their lives. Someone who knows they’re a sinner. Someone who knows they need forgiveness. In other words, someone who relies on God to wipe the slate clean.
The sad truth is that most of the time, we don’t believe Christ’s blood is enough. We don’t believe that Christ can forgive us. We’ve just done this one thing too many times, and His forgiveness will wear thin if we keep going. No, He is always faithful to forgive if we confess, and like I said before, it’s the sin that separates us, not the other way around.
So when we pray this daily, we’re confessing we’re a sinner, and that we need forgiveness. The person who prays this prayer is not prideful, nor righteous in his own eyes. He is the person who has faith in Christ that the blood He shed on calvary is enough. Again, sometimes we don’t believe it’s enough.
Sometimes we say, “No, what I’ve done is too great. I can’t be forgiven.” When we say that, we don’t believe that Christ’s blood was enough. We’re taking our salvation, our relationship with Christ, into our own hands. Instead of finding our identity in the blood of Jesus, we want to find our identity in our works. We’re trying to better ourselves. “If I do good, maybe it will outweigh the bad I’ve done.”
One of my favourite scenes from the movie Courageous is when the two officers are conversing about God’s judgement. The younger officer says, “But I’ve done a lot of good in my life.” The older one says, “That’s not the way it works. Let’s say if someone killed your mother and was sent to court for it. He says ‘but I’ve done a lot of good in my life’ and the judge lets him go. Would you say that was a good judge, or a bad judge?” I think you already know the answer.
No amount of good we do can outweigh the bad we’ve done. Only the blood of Jesus can save us, and it is sufficient.
So when you pray this prayer, know that whatever you’ve done, He’s faithful to forgive. We are the redeemed, and nothing can stand in the way of the blood of Christ, that’s a promise.
Our Certain Joy 