Jul 21 2008
“As” - Matthew 6:12
How is it that such a small word can carry such immense weight? If ever there were a case to point out the importance of every single word found in the Scriptures, this is certainly one. But this is not a word that merely carries weight, a word of great value, no; this is a word that carries a sword. “As,” is a word that cuts to the heart, divides marrow from bone, a word that pierces the soul of man and leaves him in a state of profound disquiet. This combination of only two letters, a word that is decidedly small, when seen in context bears the limitless fortunes of Heaven upon it’s back.
“As,” should become to us a reminder of how sloppy we can get in the rush of our daily lives. We claim to read the Word of God to help us learn the nature of our Heavenly Father. We revel in the joyousness of the promises that fall from it’s pages. Too often, like an author editing his own work, our eye fails to see what is set before us in favor of seeing only that which we think is there. We have read this passage a thousand times and each time we read right over the word, “as,” giving it barely a thought. If we treat a word that is this important with such little regard, how many other crucial points have we missed when the voice of God attempts to reach out to us from the pages of His written Word? We notice the larger phrases and meanings well enough but a little, two letter connecting word like, “as,” gets lost in the shuffle. Let’s pull this word from it’s scabbard, unsheathe it’s glistening edge and see if we don’t find ourselves trembling at the hand of our mighty God who wields it.
The context from which I wish to lift this tiny giant of a word is found in Matthew 6:12. This is the Lord’s prayer, (more aptly, the Disciples Prayer), the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray. The NIV, ASV, and RSV all render this verse, “And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors.” To me, this sounds like the plea that one might make before the judgment bar of God on the last day. Sometimes I find that the KJV hits the nail a bit more squarely on the head, and this is one such case. The King James renders the same verse, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This interpretation puts the verse in the present tense, something that we are doing daily, forgiving even now, and this is where I think it belongs.
You may say, “It’s nothing. I’ve prayed that prayer since I was a child, why make such a fuss over a word as insignificant as, “as?” Quite possibly you did learn this prayer as a child, most have burned the cascading verses into their memory through simple rote exercise, but when you pray it, do you ever stop to consider what it is you are asking your Heavenly Father to do? Again, the meatier phrases we consider well enough, …forgive us our debts…” “Well yes,” we say, “that sounds like a fine thing to ask. I think that I would like to have God forgive my debts.” “…we forgive our debtors…” “I like that, it sounds thoroughly magnanimous. Let the world see that we forgive our debtors.” But what about that little connector word that we breeze past when this verse flies past our lips? Most times, “as,” is thought of as meaning, “while,” but it is far more important than that.
“Tra la la, I’ll forgive your debts while you forgive mine, tra, la la - la la…” This is not how the word is used and it is not the meaning that we should assign to it. The way our Lord uses the word can not be this unimportant. Just as He uses the weak to frustrate the strong, and the simple to frustrate the wise, God takes a very small word, “as,” and fills it with all the power of His holy judgment! God thunders meaning into two simple letters, using one of the smallest of words to carry the immensity of Heaven’s riches. “As,” must be read with the meaning, “ In the same manner that…”
Let’s go back and re-read that verse now. “And forgive us our debts [in the same manner that] we forgive our debtors…” Now we begin to see the power in the combination of these two little letters and the meaning begins to change to mean something very different. You find that you are now asking God, the Creator of Heaven and earth, the maker and sustainer of your very soul, to treat you with forgiveness in the same manner as you use your forgiveness toward others in your life. Speaking strictly for myself, I would like for God to forgive me in a manner much greater than the manner in which I forgive others! I want to forgive, I even tell myself that I surrender my self-serving desire to exact punishment for whatever offense has been committed against me, but there is still a part of me that never quite seems to want to let go completely.
When God speaks to us He means exactly what He says. “For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.” Matthew 7:2 ASV. Unforgiveness is the acid that we carry in our pocket. It slowly eats it’s way through whatever container holds it until it burns it’s way into our being. And even though we are the ones being harmed by carrying this vile venom around, we have the hardest time putting it down. We seem to feel a need to have it as a weapon that we keep ready in case the person that hurt us returns. It becomes our suicidal surety that we will, one day, be able to exact repayment for the injury we suffered at their hands. Though we are poisoning ourselves, we would like to have the ability to inflict injury in the same manner that, (as), the other person injured us. We seem to forget that we are to leave room for God’s judgment, that it is His to repay.
“…forgive us AS we forgive others…” “God help us to forgive because we can not do it on our own. Didn’t You see that the attack was unfair? It was uncalled for. It was cruel beyond measure!” But God only answers, “AS.” The lesson of the ungrateful servant found in Matthew 18:23-35, should serve as a warning to us. After having been forgiven much, that servant is thoroughly unforgiving of the small debt that a fellow servant owes him. In the end, his hard heart costs him his happiness, and his freedom, landing him in prison until every penny of the original debt is repaid. God’s ability to forgive is perfect and He has forgiven all of His children their sins. This is an immense debt that we owed without any hope of ever being able to repay. It’s alright that we can’t possibly forgive as perfectly as God. The debts that we owe each other are so much smaller that we have grace enough to forgive them thanks to our loving Heavenly Father.
All for the Glory of Christ