The Hinge

There are hinge words in sentences. Consider these:

"I can't stand him BECAUSE of what he did 11 years ago."
"I love her BUT I don't trust her."
"We know we love God's children IF we love God and obey his commandments."


Like a door, the weight is carried on a hinge point. It swings on one little word. Here's one more:
"and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." What is the hinge? The little word, "AS". Eleven words in the sentence but on this one word the weight of the whole sentence swings. We are praying in other words, "God deal with me AS I deal with others." Imagine saying, "God, I can't stand that person. They are so arrogant after all I've done for them. I want to clock them. Now Lord, deal with me the same way." Wow. Is that what we want? Do we really mean that prayer? More often what we really want is this: "God, when you're dealing with me, give me mercy and forgive me. But don't expect me to treat others that way." But we can't have it both ways. We must forgive others if we want forgiveness. And the hinge word there is "IF."