Forgive we must. But how difficult forgiving can be! Often it seems easier to forgive strangers or even enemies than close friends. As the Psalmist puts it: "For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; . . . but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance." Ps. 55:12, 13;
Yet we ask God's forgiveness. We do every time we pray the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" Matt. 6:12;—or as The New English Bible translates it, "Forgive us the wrong we have done, as we have forgiven those who have wronged us."
Sometimes we forget the condition for forgiveness: we earn forgiveness as we forgive others.
