(originally published THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005)
As for me, I am not one to think to highly of my own opinion... well, not too highly anyway. You might disagree if you know me, but I have been through a lot lately. Not anything I will go into presently, but I assure you, real change is taking place.
Not long ago, forget about how long exactly, it does not matter, I realized that forgiving people, of wrongs they have done to us, is about the hardest thing we might ever have to do. For some, admittedly, it does seem come easier than for others. But for those whom it does come easy, we might tend to question the depth of that forgiveness. It is not enough that we tell someone that we forgive them while still harboring resentment, all the while playing well the part of a friend. Nor is it enough that we are just "okay" with them, tolerating them, so to speak; we must forgive as our Father forgives.
When our Heavenly Father forgives us of our unquenchable debt against Him, He does not simply say "Well, I'm okay with you, but I can't lose that wisdom of what you did!" No, He is willing to separate our transgressions as far from us as the east is from the west. "Wait," we reply, "you mean, that when we forgive others, that's it?" Yes, when God forgives His children, it is as if they have never sinned at all. He keeps no record of past wrongs. And that, for us, is where the real challenge lies. Can we forgive someone as if they never trespassed against us? Just try to imagine, God the Father, Knower of All, Omni-everything, Perfect beyond Perfection, without even the smallest trace of blemish, whose very being defines Purity, and exemplifies Truth, the One who has numbered the hairs on our heads! yet HE is willing to quite literally forget that we sinned against Him. How?! Why?! Is it the only way He could stand to be around us, if He must (eternally speaking). Or is it just one more great example of how huge the pool of His Grace and Mercy really is. If God held on to that past wisdom, what would it be like. I have ran it over and over again in my mind, a scenario:
"Hello my child. Welcome to my throne room"
"Thank you, Mighty One."
"Well, I see that you have trusted in my Sons sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins..."
"Yes, Your Worship."
"Well, that's all well and good, however..."
"...However?"
"Yes well, you see, I just can let go of the wisdom that I acquired through out your life time, how horrible of a person you were to me and how untrustworthy you were, I mean, I do forgive you, I'm okay with you and all, I just I don't really want you around me or my Family. Talk to y..." And there he cuts Himself off, because, He was about to say, "talk to you later," but He does not intend to. And with that He bids you good-bye.
Could you imagine the horror. "But I was forgiven!" Our cry falls on deaf ears, because: He forgave us as we forgave those.
This is not to say that by any means I have perfected forgiveness, in of myself. I think myself to fall into that "easy forgiver" category. But I have tasted it. It's just a very subtle taste, but do not miss my meaning here, one that is small, yet very powerful. Like when you have just the smallest fragment of peppercorn in your mouth, no bigger than a grain of sand, and then when you bite it, this little thing sets your whole mouth afire! I know that God has forgiven me, of that I have no doubts, but I do not think we ('we,' here, being those of us whom have accepted His forgiveness) can completely, and truly understand what that means, not until, at least, the Glory.
Here we must realize that our debt to Him is beyond self reconciliation, there in nothing we can do to pay it off. But what is this? He pays the debt for us! How absurd! from a human point of view. Only when we realize this is that seed of Forgiveness planted. And this is where we must make a choice, to nurture that seed, and see it grow into full maturity, like a mighty redwood, or just to let it sit there within us, never germinating, never sprouting, never peaking it's first little leaves above the top of the soil. Our choice, really, is no choice. How much more is our debt to God than another's could be to us. The concept of not forgiving others, when weighed against that, is utter foolishness. We must pay the debt of others ourselves, or at the very least absolve it completely.
Forgiveness is not easy, not for people anyway. I do not know, nor will I make any assumption as to the degree of difficultly God has with it. All things are possible with Abba, but does that mean all things are easy? Who knows?! But for us, as we live on Earth, forgiving is a challenge, and one we must face, and conquer. Our only hope lies in the empowering of His Spirit dwelling inside of us. We must learn to rely on God to be our strength to truly forgive others. We cannot do it on our own. Praise the LORD! that he has sent His mighty Helper.
"For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Luke 7:38(b) NASB
Thank you for reading!
Scott.
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