We Must Forgive!

Oil and water just do not mix. You cannot have day and night at the same time. The changes of life and the changes of the seasons are something that cannot be held back.

These are just facts. We take them for granted. Because they are fact, we have learned to make some adjustments in our living. You know, for example, that if we fail to make the proper preparations for winter we’ll be found running around in the snow wishing we’d planned ahead. Facts are facts and we real have no choice in accepting them. Of course, we can deny their existence, but that doesn’t change the reality.

Jesus was a very down-to-earth factual kind of guy. He told stories taken from the every day lives of everyday people, people like us. When Jesus told stories people knew that he understood their lives and situations. When he gave advice, it was drawn from the lives that most people lived.

The most needed piece of advice Jesus ever gave was the need to forgive. It wasn’t a matter of choice. It wasn’t something Jesus saw as something that might be good to do once in a while, or if it benefited oneself, or if the circumstances were just right. Jesus spoke clearly about forgiveness, and Paul echoed his teachings. Jesus said, “forgive as you have been forgiven.” Jesus suggests some urgency in the need to forgive.

Why forgive? For one thing, forgiveness gets life off dead center. I have had occasions, and I know you have too, where I have been at odds with another person. I’ve had those instances where I’ve felt that the other person offended me first. From our experiences, we’ve all learned that as long as we hold onto that situation, as long as we hold the other person “guilty” for whatever wrong we feel they have done against us, the possibilities of a future with that person stop dead in its tracks. The possibility of clearing the air and enjoying the wonder of relationships is held hostage by a failure to forgive.

Of course, it is easy to feel justified in our anger. Of course there are those instances where it seems perfectly appropriate that the other person be made to suffer our wrath and have it tossed into their face (time and time again) that they have wronged us. But what really happens, truth be told, is that the opposite occurs. Instead of them feeling our wrath they shrug us off as a person who simply doesn’t get it. Instead of us being in control and holding the other person accountable what really happens is that we place ourselves in chains ... chains buried deep in the past.

So, if you intend to live, you must forgive. You must forgive if you hope for any newness to come into your life. You must take the first step in forgiveness if you ever hope to make amends with those who may have wronged you. You must forgive if you ever hope to be forgiven of the wrongs that are clearly of your own doing and making.

For sure, reaching out with a word of forgiveness might just be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. I know personally that it is a very humbling experience. However, following Jesus' command to forgive, in forgiving we’ll find some parts of our lives moving off dead center and a new spirit of peace emerging.