Why does the Lord's Prayer instruct us to ask God to forgive us "as we forgive others"? When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them this model commonly known as the Lord's Prayer.


  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, 
     hallowed be your name.
    Your kingdom come, your will be done,
      on earth as it is in heaven.
     Give us this day our daily bread,
      and forgive us our debts,
      as we also have forgiven our debtors.
    And lead us not into temptation,
      but deliver us from evil.  Mathew 6:9-13 ESV


In it, we are to ask God to forgive our debts "as we also have forgiven our debtors".  The parallel passage in Luke is similar, but specifically mentions forgiveness of sins:


  And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
   “Father, hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.
   Give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins,
      for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
   And lead us not into temptation.”  Luke 11:2-4 ESV


I was discussing this with a couple friends last night, and one of them mentioned that we do not really want God to forgive us in the same manner that we forgive others, as that would be a much weaker, incomplete forgiveness.  In fact, we would much rather pray, "Father forgive us completely--wholly unlike how I am even able to forgive others."

I understand that we are encouraged to forgive others as completely as we can, but I also know my weakness in doing this.

So, again, why are we taught to ask God only to forgive us in the manner that we forgive others?  It seems we would want a much greater level of forgiveness--the kind of forgiveness that only God can give.
Forgiving others is very, very important. Firstly, we emphasize the primary importance of love in the life of a believer:


  The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 TImothy 1:5 NIV


Compare also the well known Great Commandment. The vital importance of forgiving others is made manifest when we realize that it is utterly impossible to truly love those we harbor unforgiveness towards (certainly from 'a pure heart' or 'with all our heart, mind, soul and strength' or 'as ourselves')- we deceive ourselves if we think so. The gospels are quite clear that the graceless attitude of unforgiveness will prevent us from receiving grace ourselves, in the succeeding verses to the Lord's prayer given in Matthew:


  14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. - Matthew 6:14-15 NIV


Compare also The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

Viewed in human terms, the 'manner' of our forgiveness will not of course match the Lord's in view of His sublime perfection; however, God is fully committed to supply the required grace to enable us to forgive completely and sincerely if we trust him to do so:


  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. - 2 Peter 1:3 NIV