"Forgive if ye have ought against any..."

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25

The King James version of that scripture uses the word "ought" in a way that is not used today. In the context of Mark 11:25 it means "anything", or "grudge", or "something".

The New Living Translation reads this way, "But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too."

Although the New Living Translation is clearer for us today, the word "ought" in the King James Version actually has deeper meaning than we might realize.

I have been noticing lately how much we impose our expectations on one another and get ourselves all worked up about what someone "ought" to be doing.

We make judgments about one another based on age, education, experience, spiritual maturity, titles, etc. and decide that based on certain characteristics or criteria, people "ought" to understand this, or "ought" to behave this way, or "ought" to have moved on, and the list of "oughts" goes on and on.

In some cases, it might be reasonable to expect certain things from others, but we must always check our expectations against God's plan and timetable. For instance, we might think we should not have to spell something out for someone, but we have no idea what stresses and distractions people are under and how much it may have taken them just to show up, nonetheless perform at their best. What if God is showing us what they "ought" to be doing because we "ought" to be helping them instead of criticizing them?

Sometimes we even get angry at each other and God because of the "oughts" we have against one another. We think certain people because of their titles or roles "ought" to be able to do certain things the way we expect or "ought" not to get certain things because of their actions.

I just thank God that we are not God, because that speck in our brother or sister's eye is nothing compared to the beam in ours, and we are often in no position to accurately judge what someone ought to be doing.

Let's try to have less "oughts" against one another and instead turn them toward ourselves. Let's ask questions like, "What ought I be doing when someone's shortcomings are exposed to me?" "What ought I be praying on behalf of my brother or sister?" "What ought I contribute to be part of the solution and not the problem?" "What ought I be doing to improve my patience and demonstrate the same longsuffering toward others that God continually shows toward me?"

There just "ought" to be something better we can do than create expectations for one another and serve as self-appointed judge, jury and executioner when others fail to meet our expectations.

Whenever we have "ought" against someone, let's ask God to show us the videotape of our lives displaying how often we did or said the wrong things over and over again, or how many times we disappointed others, or how many times we stubbornly refused to do what God told us. That "ought" to be enough to make us more forgiving, loving, kind and patient toward one another.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen