Q: One of the lines in the Lord’s Prayer asks, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). That’s another way of asking God to forgive our mistakes. If God doesn’t see us as flawed in any way, then He doesn’t see us as making mistakes. So why would we need forgiveness?
A: I love your question. The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him how to pray, touches the hearts of Christians everywhere. Its message is filled with all the love, encouragement, and guidance of a divine Parent for His precious children. As we accept the truth that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters, this prayer becomes an urging for us to know Him, and thereby know and live the qualities that are inherent to our true selves. I love thinking of God as my Parent. As a mom, I don’t see my child as flawed when she makes a mistake. I love her enough to want her happiness and peace. And because I love her, I don’t want her to repeat thinking or behavior that undermines her spiritual integrity—her oneness with God. I want her to discover the best in herself and realize when a choice or decision is not the best one she could have made. I pray that she is conscious of the presence of divine wisdom guiding her each moment. And I encourage her to see that by moving in the direction of goodness, she is moving away from any sense that her mistakes define her or are a part of her identity.
For me, this is what Jesus meant when he prayed, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). In the original Greek, the word forgive means “to move away from, to let go of.” When we have the humility to acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them, then we are able to let go of them as simply poor choices rather than as indicators that we are flawed. We begin to discover what it means to be the loved children of our Father-Mother God, who wants us to draw closer to Him and live at one with Him, as Jesus did. We owe that to ourselves. It strengthens in us a compassion that heals both ourselves and others.
