"God's renown is our first concern. Our task is to be an expert in "hallowed be your name" and "your kingdom come." "Hallowed" means to be known and declared as holy. Our first desire is that God would be known as he truly is, the Holy One. Implicit in his name being hallowed is that his glory or fame would cover the earth. This takes us out of ourselves immediately. Somehow, we want God's glory to be increasingly apparent through the church today. If you need specifics, keep your eyes peeled for the names God reveals to us. For example, we can pray that he would be known as the Mighty God, the Burden-Bearer, and the God who cares. "Your kingdom come" overlaps with our desire for his fame and renown. It is not so much that we are praying that Jesus would return quickly, though such a prayer is certainly one of the ways we pray. Instead, it is for God's kingdom to continue its progress toward world dominion. The kingdom has already come and, as stewards of the kingdom for this generation, we want it to grow and flourish. The kingdom of heaven is about everything Jesus taught: love for neighbors and even enemies, humility in judgment, not coveting, blessing rather than cursing, meekness, peacemaking, and trusting instead of worrying. It is a matter of "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Edward T. Welch February 1 Matthew 18:21-35 People mistreat us, sometimes in horrific ways. Spouses cheat. Children rebel. Bosses fire. Friends lie. Pastors fail. Parents abuse. Hurts are real. But how do all these one hundred denarii (about $6,000) offenses against us compare to the ten thousand talent (multimillion-dollar) debt we owed God, which he mercifully canceled? Since birth, and for all our lives, we have failed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). But in one fell swoop--by the death and resurrection of Jesus--God wiped our records clean. Through the cross of Jesus and our faith in him, God removed our transgressions from us "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12); he hurled "all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Could it be that one reason you find it so hard to forgive is because you have never received God's forgiveness by repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus as your Savior? Or maybe you have yet to grasp the enormity of God's forgiveness of all your many sins. If you dwell on your offender's $6,000 debt against you, you will be trapped in bitterness until you die. But if you dwell on God's forgiveness of your multimillion-dollar debt, you will find release and liberty. Robert D. Jones"