Prayer 101 #9 - Debts and Debtors

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12

Debt is “owing”. In the Lord’s Prayer, debt is what others owe us and what we owe God. People owe us respect because we bear the image of God. They owe us a sense of being valuable because Jesus shed his blood for us. We all owe God the hallowing of his name. Debt accumulates between us and others and between us and God when we do not pay what we owe. For example we accumulate debt when we break the Ten Commandments.

Command 1: Have no other gods before you. We owe God our undivided loyalty.

Command 2: Don’t worship idols. We owe God truthful respect and honor.

Command 3: Don’t irreverence the name of God. We owe God reverent treatment of his name.

Command 4: Remember the Sabbath Day. We owe God time to honor him.

Command 5: Honor your father and mother. We owe parents honor.

Command 6: Do not murder. We owe each other value and respect.

Command 7: Do not steal. We owe each other respect of ownership.

Command 8: Do not lie. We owe each other the truth.

Command 9: Do not commit adultery. We owe each other respect of commitments.

Command 10: Do not have self-centered passions and desires (coveting). We owe God and people the honor that comes from our hidden passions and desires.

The Lord’s Prayer makes us mindful that we are debtors and teaches us when we pray to be sure and forgive any debt anyone owes us in the same way we want God to forgive our debts toward him.