This has got to be among the most terrifying verses in the entire Bible. After he teaches his disciples how to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer," Jesus says this:

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:14-15

The context is the closing part of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." (The language is old-fashioned. What Jesus literally says is "debts," but the sense is more like "sins" or "wrongs, etc. I personally like "trespasses," which always makes me think of someone deliberately transgressing on someone else's property.) I don't totally understand, but Jesus clearly implies that there is some spiritual connection between our willingness to forgive others and our capacity to receive forgiveness from God.

Terrifying. Who do you need to forgive today?

Don't wait.

Today's Scripture

Matthew 6:1-18