A Prayer about Forgiveness

And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. Matthew 6:12

Holy God,

Forgive us for our disbelief in the forgiveness of sins.

As C. S. Lewis points out, 

In the Apostles Creed, 

we say that we believe in the forgiveness of sins. 

But if we affirm this truth with our minds and our mouths, 

we must examine the way we actually live. 

And when it comes down to it, 

much of our confession of sin 

is really making a case for ourselves 

about why our sin is excusable: 

“We are so anxious to point these (excuses) out to God (and to ourselves) 

that we are apt to forget 

the really important thing; 

that is, the bit left over…

the bit which is inexcusable, 

but not, Thank God, unforgivable.”* 

As Lewis points out, 

if we don’t really believe God will forgive us our sins, 

we live in anxiety. 

What we need is “real forgiveness,” 

which looks 

“steadily at the sin, 

the sin which is left over without any excuse…

and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, 

and nevertheless being wholly reconciled 

to the man who has done it.”(135-136).

Oh, Lord, you have indeed looked at our sin 

and seen it for what it is. 

And you have sent your Son to die 

for that very same sin. 

And because we are united to him by faith, 

we are fully reconciled to you. 

This is an astonishing truth, 

seemingly too good to be true, 

and yet not too good to be real.

In the name of our Savior we pray.

Amen. 

Read Matthew 6:12; 1 John 1:9; Romans 1:18-2:1. Romans 5:6-11.

*This prayer inspired by C.S. Lewis’s essay “On Forgiveness,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Essays, 134-136.