Forgive us as we forgive others...

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.

When you pray this verse, have you ever thought about this little word "as" before?

"As."

In this verse, I think it can mean two different things:

As = at the same time
As = in the same way

So, to take the first meaning: if you forgive someone now, you are also forgiven now.

And if you take the second meaning: if you forgive someone completely, you are also forgiven completely.

It can also mean that if you only "kind of" forgive someone now, then you are also only "kind of" forgiven now. And if you forgive someone only partially, then you are also only forgiven partially.

Think about it.

And consider how important then it is to forgive as God does: completely now. Only then are you truly living in your natural state. Because as His likeness, His Love forgiving you is always reflected in your love forgiving another.

And Love insists on being reflected!

Debts?

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.

To see a debt is to be in debt!

Have you ever stopped to think about that?

But in debt how? in debt to what?

Maybe think about it this way: to see a debt is to be in need of Love. And the bigger the debt you see, the deeper the need of Love, divine Love, the Love that is actually God Himself.

"Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness." 1 Chronicles 16:29

And isn't this need cured by the "beauty of holiness"? to love God so deeply that you pay your "debt" first to Him? bring your offering to Him? your offering of your broken heart, your fear, your repentance? and offer these up - let these go - so you can awake in His likeness? whole, complete, divinely fair?

When you think that someone else needs forgiveness, it is really you that needs forgiveness! For what? For accepting evil for your neighbor: seeing your neighbor as a sinner, seing your neighbor as lacking, seeing your neighbor as evil.

"Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

So pure was Jesus' correct view that it also healed the sinner and raised the dead!

Be sure then to follow Jesus' example as best you can and witness correctly - see God's own likeness where everyone else sees debtors. This includes seeing yourself - loving yourself - this same way!

Forgiveness is always Love being reflected - acted on, lived, made manifest - in love: love for God, love for our neighbor, and (don't forget!) love for yourself.

Love is always reflected in love (Part 4)

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.

What is this "debt" of love that you owe, other than to fulfill the two great commandments that Jesus said fulfill "all the law and the prophets"?

And what are these two great commandments?

To love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
And, to love your neighbor as yourself.

This is your debt. This is what you owe to God: You must love.

And if you love enough to forgive, then you will understand that you are also so wonderfully loved by God as to actually be forgiven.

The unconditional love of God is never "earned" - it is always freely pouring out on us. Jesus said God makes His "sun to rise on the evil and on the good" and sends His "rain on the just and on the unjust." God's love is completely unconditional. But when we hate, dispise, ignore, we are certainly not in a position to even recognize - let alon receive - that free gift of God's unconditional love! With our heart closed in a knot of self-ishness, how can we possibly be open to love?

But if you open your thought - and your heart - to even the possibility of love, then be ready!

His Love will do its perfect work in you, as you. And you intuitively know that Love is the most natural thing in the world.

In fact, living His Love is your purpose.

Living His Love is why you're here.

Get busy!

Learning to forgive ourselves

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.

Forgiving our debtors helps us learn how to accept forgiveness for ourselves, how to truly repent -- re-think about who we are and what we do and how we live and interact with others.

And this acceptance of forgiveness demands humility. Divine Love, God, humbles us to learn to love unconditionally, like He does. His Love is a "law of annihilation" to every hate and fear that makes us believe in separation - separation from Him, as well as separation from our "debtors."

Think about the two great commandments that Jesus spoke of:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."

In this particular passage Jesus also answered the question of who your neighbor is by giving us the parable of the Good Samaritan: it is anyone in need of your help.

Is it too much of a stretch to think that Jesus would have approved the idea that your "neighbor" is also anyone who is even in your debt?

Could we also then pray "thou shalt love thy debtor as thyself?"

The parable of the Good Samaritan would suggest the answer to that question is YES.

Jesus' parable urges us to go out of our way to be a blessing to everyone we encounter, to those who need us, need God's Love to be made real for them by us being His - Divine Love's - action and example.

And the spiritual sense of this verse is not "Love is reflected in like" - it is "Love is reflected in love," in full-on all-embracing completely giving LOVE.

Divine Love forgives us our debts as we forgive - love - those we think are somehow in debt to us.

Forgiving is always reflected in forgiveness because Love is always reflected in love.