Jordan and his Master's Thesis

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Matthew 12:36 (New International Version)

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
Matthew 12:34 (New American Standard Bible)

Then the devil took him [Jesus] to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4:5-7 (New International Version)

I haven’t written “random thoughts” posts for quite a while now, but I was pretty busy doing really important stuff for work and university.
But… today is Sunday
That forces me to lay aside my work and so I finally have some time to write about the things that kept my mind busy lately.

A lot of you will know the Lord’s Prayer… Some of you might even pray it from time to time.

In case you haven’t heard it until now, here it is:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13 (New International Version)

I highlighted a part which became very important to me during the last days…
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

For some of you the first part of the sentence might seem reasonable. Come on… be honest: who doesn’t want to be forgiven? I’m pretty sure we all sometimes do stuff we aren’t proud of afterwards. Maybe it takes some time but usually we realize our mistakes and ask for forgiveness.

It’s simple math…
our starting point is 0
mistake = -1
asking for forgiveness = 0.5

So if we want to reach our starting point again after hurting somebody, we end up with the following equation:
0 = -1 + 0.5
(starting point = mistake + asking for forgiveness)

Hold on… Something is missing…
Does this mean we should ask for forgiveness twice to reach the starting point? Well… not exactly!

We forgot one important variable:
forgive = 0.5
This needs to come from the person we hurt! If this is missing our equation becomes an ugly inequation!

0 = -1 + 0.5 + 0.5
(starting point = mistake + asking for forgiveness + forgive)

Sounds ok to you?

Hmm… I guess it isn’t as easy as I hoped it would be! What if we are the ones who need to forgive? And what if our counterpart doesn’t regret what he did to us?

Right after the Lord’s Prayer we can read this:

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15 (New International Version)

I’m not sure how you interpret it, but as far as I am concerned: I don’t see “if you forgive men when they sin against you and ask your forgiveness” written there.
It’s only: “if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

Are you kidding me? We should forgive even if the one who hurt us doesn’t care how we feel and isn’t sorry at all?

Yeah… Now you got it

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19 (New International Version)

How do you know you’ve really forgiven someone who isn’t sorry for hurting you?

You know it when the thought of their name or the sight of their face – rather than causing your blood to boil – causes you to feel sorry for them instead, to pity them, to genuinely hope they get this turned around. (Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39 (New International Version)