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Matthew 6

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1 Take heed not to do your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

2 When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But thou, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does;

4 so that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets so that they should appear to men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But *thou*, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as those who are of the nations: for they think they shall be heard through their much speaking.

8 Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg [anything] of him.

9 Thus therefore pray *ye*: Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified,

10 let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth;

11 give us to-day our needed bread,

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,

13 and lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil.

14 For if ye forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father also will forgive you [yours],

15 but if ye do not forgive men their offences, neither will your Father forgive your offences.

16 And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, downcast in countenance; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear fasting to men: verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17 But *thou*, [when] fasting, anoint thy head and wash thy face,

18 so that thou mayest not appear fasting unto men, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret shall render [it] to thee.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal;

20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal;

21 for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart.

22 The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light:

23 but if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment?

26 Look at the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into granaries, and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are *ye* not much more excellent than they?

27 But which of you by carefulness can add to his growth one cubit?

28 And why are ye careful about clothing? Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin;

29 but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these.

30 But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into [the] oven, will he not much rather you, O [ye] of little faith?

31 Be not therefore careful, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on?

32 for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil.

   

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Forgiveness

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff

"Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery" by Alessandro Turchi

What does the Bible teach us about forgiveness?

In Matthew 6:12-15, we have this passage from the Lord's Prayer:

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil [one.] For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

In Mark 11:25-26, there's this similar one:

And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. [But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]

In 1 Kings 8:38-40, there's another:

what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

In Psalms 86:4-6, here's another excerpt:

Rejoice the soul of thy servant; For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O Jehovah, unto my prayer; And hearken unto the voice of my supplications.

From Isaiah, there's this:

Ah, sinful nation, laden with iniquity. When ye spread forth your hands, I hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I do not hear. Wash you, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes cease to do evil; learn to do well, and then shall your sins be removed and forgiven (Isaiah 1:4, 15-18).

What are the themes that start to emerge? Clearly, forgiveness is important. It works two ways, in that we need forgiveness from the Lord for our sins, and... that we need to forgive others. We need to make a supplication - a heartfelt prayer, before we are able to receive it. It's not that the Lord withholds is from us, but that - until we really feel remorse and humility and need - we aren't ready.

Here's a passage from Divine Providence n. 280:

Repentance must precede forgiveness, and apart from repentance there is no forgiveness. That is why the Lord told his disciples to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:27) and why John preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3).

From Arcana Coelestia 8393, here's another one:

Being Mercy itself, the Lord is constantly forgiving a person's sins; but sins cling to a person no matter how much he supposes them to have been forgiven. Nor are they removed from him except through a life in keeping with the commandments of faith. To the extent that his life is in keeping with them his sins are removed; and to the extent that his sins are removed they have been forgiven.