God of the weak and weary, bless and restore to full strength the areas of need in the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our study of The Lord's Prayer continues with "And forgive us our trespasses..." (Matthew 6:12a)
When we first moved to Houston we lived in an old two-story house that had been made into a quadplex of apartments. It was an old wooden home and we did not have many neighbors. But what has stayed with me all these years is that directly across the street from us was a solitary home sitting on an entire city block. It had a beautifully manicured lawn, no fence, but plenty of signs that said, "No Trespassing!" It was emphasized at every possible corner of the lot. The owners were an elderly couple and we simply knew them as Mr. & Mrs. No Trespassing. They were not friendly and the only ventures outside of their home was to pick up stray wrappers, beer and soda bottles and any other littering that ocurred on their property. They never said hello nor hi, and kept to themselves. The temptation for those of us who walked everywhere was to cut across their property to save time and distance, but we never did. We respected their wanting no one to traspass against them.
The two key words in this part of the prayer are the words, forgive and trespasses. I would add that in the King James Version of the Bible and others, the word is debt. Jesus' understanding was that God grants us forgiveness of our sins. God removes the burden of guilt and pain whenever we confess that we have done something against God or against someone else. Forgiveness is a powerful word and it is a powerful thing. It is a relief. It is a second breath. It is a huge sigh of relief. It is, in all respects, a new lease on life. The second is that which acknowledges that we have gone into areas of others' lives that we should not have tread. We've stepped "on the grass" looking for a short cut or to save us some distance. We know it was wrong and we now confess that we should not have done what we did. It should be a genuine and sincere form of confession.
It begins with our being honest with ourselves and with God. We know when we have been on someone else's property or area of privacy and that we should not have been there. And when we tell God that we no longer want to live with that burden, God is faithful and just to remove it. We no longer have to carry it on our shoulders or backs and we can continue our journey with God.
PRAYER: Loving God, truly forgive me for doing and going where You and I know that I shouldn't. Grant me the peace of release from that guilt and pain, and let this day be the day of new beginnings with a new attitude of respect for You, myself, and others. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
