Forgiveness

Three of our best prayer group sessions are in our rear view mirror.  Every Tuesday afternoon we meet at the prison for a group session called New Life in Prayer.  We pray together, sing praise & worship songs, and study the Lord's Prayer.  For three weeks we looked at the petition: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  If you take the Lord's Prayer seriously, God's forgiveness of us compels us to forgive one another.  Here's what John Calvin said about this: "God will not be ready to hear us, unless we also show ourselves ready to grant forgiveness to those who have offended us. If we are not harder than iron, this exhortation ought to soften us, and render us disposed to forgive offenses."  The inmates in our prison prayer group take this very seriously.  They've committed serious offenses against other people but also have had atrocities committed against them.  When they talk about their past, they admit that forgiveness takes time.  It's a holy thing requiring the intervention of God.  It requires patience, a fruit of the Spirit.  But forgiveness is worth it.  As my devotional entry stated the other day: To forgive is to set the prisoner free and discover the prisoner was YOU."  Through His Spirit, God is daily setting us free from the prison of unforgiveness.  May God equip us to be a people of forgiveness.