The Lord's Prayer: The Fifth Petition

The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer is this:  "And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

What does this mean? "We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them.  We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.  So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us."

For many, the question they have about this petition is "what are trespasses," but it clears right up for you when we say, "Trespasses are sins."  Trespasses are simply all the things we are and do that separate us from God.  Trespasses are the reason why God would be justified if He decided to crumple up the whole creation like a piece of paper and toss it in the trash can.

The mercy of God is that He does not do this, but sent Jesus to suffer the just punishment which we deserve.  His grace is that He gives us the gifts that we no longer deserve, but that He desires for His children.

That's what we're praying for in this petition.  Just that our heavenly Father would forgive us for Jesus sake and treat us as dear children.

Of course, God also calls on us to forgive others in the way we've been forgiven.  Read Matthew 18:21-35.  Jesus is very clear in this passage about how He expects God's forgiven children to respond to their own forgiveness by forgiving those around them.