Verse of the Day for September 13

Jesus finishes the prayer with Amen, and then he goes back. Of all the lines he has just taught, he chooses one to explain further. Not bread, not temptation, not the kingdom. Forgiveness.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Then comes the hard mirror of it in verse 15. He clearly expected this to be the line his disciples would struggle with most.

He was right. Most believers can say the Lord's Prayer by heart. Fewer find it easy to live the middle of it. Forgiveness is often slow. You forgive on Monday and find the anger back by Thursday.

These verses are not a threat designed to frighten you into instant perfection. They describe a connection. A heart that refuses to release others is a heart closed to receiving release itself. The door that lets mercy out is the same door that lets it in.

If your progress is slow, if you are still angry with your father or with the friend who took the money, keep praying the line. Say it on the walk to work even when you do not feel it. Slow forgiveness is still forgiveness in motion, and Jesus took the time to come back to it.

Mercy goes out and comes in through the same door.

Slow forgiveness is still moving.