RELATIONSHIPS March 3, 2008 Issue

FORGIVENESS— KEY TO EFFECTIVE PRAYER

BILL FABIAN

A few years ago I saw a young jogger wearing a T-shirt that read: Before you pray, forgive. T-shirt slogans can be like bumper stickers — hard to ignore. And this caught my attention since I'm a prayerful person and I'd been thinking a lot about forgiveness.

Perhaps, I thought, the slogan was based on Jesus' instruction, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23, 24). Often, reconciliation involves forgiveness.

To me, Jesus' words, along with the spirit of that T-shirt, advise us to cleanse our hearts of whatever prevents forgiveness. Sacrificing what is not pure and holy, such as self-justification, pride, revenge, and greed, paves the way for effective prayer. But forgiveness (which is a kind of prayer in itself) is a prerequisite.