Prayer of the Unforgiving Man by K. C. Russell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 10, 1907

Prayer of the Unforgiving Man.

By K. C. Russell

K. C. RUSSELL

Let any one who is treasuring in his heart anything against his brethren and sisters in the church, or against any other person, read and ponder well the following prayer of the unforgiving man:—

“Conceive an unforgiving man, with heart full of wrath against his neighbor, with a memory which treasures up the little wrongs and insults and provocations he fancies himself to have received from that neighbor; conceive such a man praying to God Most High to forgive him his debts as he forgives his debtors. What, in the mouth of such a man, do these words mean? That you may fully understand their meaning, I will turn them into a prayer, which we will call The Prayer of the Unforgiving Man: ‘O God, I have sinned against thee many times; I have been often forgetful of thy goodness: I have broken thy laws; I have committed many secret sins. Deal with me, I beseech thee, O Lord, even as I deal with my neighbor. He hath not offended me one hundredth part as much as I have offended thee, but I can not forgive him. He has been very ungrateful to me, though not a hundredth part as ungrateful as I have been to thee, yet I can not overlook such base ingratitude. Deal with me, O Lord, I beseech thee, as I deal with him. I remember and treasure up every little trifle which shows how ill he has behaved to me. Deal with me, I beseech thee, Lord, as I deal with him.’ Can anything be more shocking and horrible than such a prayer? Yet this is just the prayer the unforgiving man offers up every time he repeats the Lord’s prayer.”