I’m sure you’ve noticed that public prayers in our assemblies often follow a familiar sort of jingle – the same words in the same order with nearly a melodic feature, almost resembling a chant. Sometimes, we suspect that the words and their definitions just might be foreign to the speakers’ own vocabularies, but they’ve heard prayers prayed that way time and time again over the years. On some occasions, the prayer may come across so quickly as though the play button on a recorder were pressed – only that the speed was set to faster, which results in run together words so that there’s a good possibility that neither the speaker nor the hearers could discern what was said. We and others around us have the same needs regularly, of course, and so we surely will pray about the same things frequently; nevertheless, public prayers ought to be meaningful to the one leading them as well as to the ones who hear them. Before each public prayer that I lead, I pray to God in advance that the prayer I’m about to express will be acceptable to Him and useful for those present.
Regarding public prayers, we often hear something like this. “Dear God, please forgive us of our many sins.” Bible class after Bible class and worship after worship, we may hear something of that nature uttered – “forgive us of our many sins.” Elders, preachers and other members petition God habitually with the words, “Forgive us of our many sins.”
Naturally, we do not want to minimize the magnitude of sin, few or many, in anyone’s life. Sin is a barrier between the sinner and God (Isaiah 59:1-3). Sin is a barrier over which, around which, under which and through which a sinner cannot go to the Father. Every human commits sin (Romans 3:10, 23). The only person on earth Who never committed even one sin is Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).
Christians also sometimes commit sins (1 John 1:8, 10). That’s a fact. However, Christians who are trying earnestly to practice Christianity – walking in the light as He is the light (1 John 1:7) – ought to be sinning less often than they were prior to being converted. Hence, praying regularly for God to forgive us of our many sins seems inconsistent with the Christian profession.
Mortals are unable to save themselves from sin apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). However, one way to distinguish between sinners and saints (Christians) is that whereas sinners major in unrighteousness and may minor in righteousness, saints major in righteousness and minor in unrighteousness. Saints or Christians are forgiven sinners. They repent of sins of which they are aware (Acts 8:22), and while walking in the light of Jesus Christ, His blood cleanses them from sins of which they are not aware (1 John 1:7).
Asking God to forgive us of our many sins seems to be an admission that characteristically the children of God are not repenting of sins of which they are aware, and neither are they carefully walking in the light of our Lord and Savior. If we carefully select the words for our prayers and say them in a meaningful way, we probably won’t be asking God to forgive us of our many sins.
