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耶稣在主祷文结尾时的教导，可能会令人感到困惑。祂似乎在说，我们要藉着饶恕人来赚取神的饶恕。然而我们也知道，因着对耶稣的信心，我们已经蒙神饶恕了。（参徒 2:38；罗 3-8）所以，我们需要从另一个角度来理解这段话所说的意思。

想像一块很久没有用过的厨房海绵，当你放它在水龙头下面时，水只能滑过那块海绵，但如果你把它浸在一桶水里数分钟，它便会变软，可以使用了。

我们的心也和这块海绵相似。我们若不肯放下埋怨和愤恨、继续怀恨在心，我们便会变成一个铁石心肠的人，神对我们的恩典就像水流过石头那样，石头是不会被水渗透的。

然而，当我们愿意饶恕人时，我们便能像一块润湿的海绵那么柔软了。主深厚的恩典渗透和充满我们的心灵，我们便能够与人分享祂的恩典了。润湿的海绵碰到的东西都会变得润湿，同样，我们饶恕人时，我们也能够与人分享这份恩典、帮助他们抹去自身的罪污，就如歌罗西书三章十三节所说的：“主怎样饶恕了你们，你们也要怎样饶恕人。”

治死我们积藏下来的埋怨、忿怒、和愤恨，能够软化我们的心灵，这样我们便能够接受神奇妙的恩典，并且乐意与人分享了。

Jesus’ teaching here at the end of the Lord’s Prayer might be confusing. It almost sounds as if we have to earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. But we also know that through faith in Jesus, we are already forgiven by God (Acts 2:38; Romans 3-8). So we need a different kind of thinking here.

Think of an old kitchen sponge that hasn’t been used for a long time. When you put it under the tap, the water runs right over the sponge. But if you set the sponge in a bucket of water for a few minutes, it softens and becomes usable again.

Our hearts can be like that too. When we hold onto resentments and bitterness, nursing our anger, we can become as hard as a rock, and God’s grace for us will be like water running over a rock. It doesn’t soak in.

But when we are open to forgiving others, we become soft like a moistened sponge. The Lord’s deep grace soaks in and saturates our hearts, and we become available to share his grace. Just as a wet sponge moistens other things when it touches them, we can share grace, helping to wipe others’ dirt away as we forgive others. As Colossians 3:13 puts it, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Dying to our accumulated resentment, anger, and bitterness softens our hearts to receive God’s amazing grace and to share it freely with others.