February 2. The forgiveness cycle. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is

indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. Luke 11. 4. Who forgives whom first?

On the one hand, Jesus says, forgive us our sins, for we ourselves, forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Luke 114. On the other hand, Paul says, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3.13.

When Jesus teaches us to pray that God would forgive us, for we ourselves forgive,

he is not saying that the first move in forgiveness was our move.

Rather, it goes like this.

God forgave us when we believed in Christ, Acts 1043.

Then, from this broken, joyful, grateful, hopeful experience of being forgiven,

we offer forgiveness to others. This forgiving spirit signifies that we have been savingly forgiven.

That is, our forgiving others shows that we have been savingly forgiven. That is, our forgiving others shows that we have faith.

We are united to Christ.

We are indwelt by the gracious, humbling Holy Spirit.

But we still sin.

1.J. 1.8 and 10. so we still turn to God for fresh applications of the work of Christ on our behalf.

Fresh applications of forgiveness.

We cannot do this with any confidence if we are harboring an unforgiving spirit.

Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, 23 to 35?

He refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him $10, though he claimed to be forgiven $10 million.

He showed by his unforgiving spirit that the king's mercy had not changed him.

Jesus protects us from this folly by teaching us to pray, forgive us our sins, for we ourselves

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