Our text today focuses on the Lord's Prayer, in which we ask God, "Forgive us . . . ." We are always in need of asking for forgiveness.

Jesus taught us this prayer in his Sermon on the Mount. And this is our challenge each day: to forgive others and accept the forgiveness of God and others. How you and I need that!

What does it mean when we pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors?" Does it mean we want God to forgive us in the same way we forgive others? If so, we're all in deep trouble. Each of us has people who are frustratingly difficult to forgive.

Corrie Ten Boom, a World War II concentration camp survivor, tells of a time she spoke to a large audience about forgiveness. As she walked off the platform, she came face to face with a former guard whom she recognized from the camps. He asked her to shake his hand. Though she had just spoken on forgiveness, she froze and could not bring herself to forgive. Then, in God's strength, she found that she could, and shook his hand.

Most of us have people in our lives who are difficult to forgive. But if we cannot forgive others and yet we ask God to forgive us as we forgive, where does that leave us? Unforgiven? There must be a better explanation. There is. We'll talk about it tomorrow.