How Dare We Ask God For Forgiveness?

When you think about it, the request for forgiveness in this part of the Lord’s Prayer has a lot of nerve. 

How dare we ask God to forgive us! He has done so much for us already. He has created us, given us life, and provided us with everything we need. 

When we rebelled against him, he sent his Son to die in our place. 

He has forgiven us and given us his Holy Spirit to live in us. He has given us his Word to guide and comfort us. He has placed us in his church, among his own people, and has promised to return for us. 

And still, we sin against him! 

Still, when we can’t have things our way, we take it out on others by being unkind to them. 

Still, though we know we should take time to pray and read God’s Word, we neglect these things. 

Knowingly, in spite of all God’s mercy and patience, we keep on sinning! How dare we ask God to forgive us one more time?

Here's why we can dare—“because of Christ’s blood.” Anyone values his own blood, since his life is tied up in it. 

But the blood of Christ is the blood of the sinless Son of God. It has infinite worth. 

There could never be so many human sins that the value of Christ’s blood would be all used up. 

Yes, our sins against God’s goodness are unspeakably wicked. 

But our very great comfort is this: though our sins are many and evil, the value of Christ’s blood is more than enough to cover them all. 

God will surely forgive us “because of Christ’s blood.”

Adapted Excerpt From: Starr Meade. “Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds.”