By Pastor Mike
Recently, an individual asked me the following question: How do I forgive someone when every fiber of my being rejects that notion? He explained to me that he found it nearly impossible to ignore certain people or situations because his very nature as a human seemed to resist it. I’m sure that all of us have been in this situation before. We encounter the opportunity to forgive only to be confronted with a desire to reject forgiveness. For some, this is mere pettiness or a refusal to admit wrongdoing or mistake. That is not what I wish to focus on in this devotional. Those who are unforgiving because they are desirous of their own petty rightness have an inner sin of pride that needs to be worked on before they broach the subject of true forgiveness. No, I’m talking about those who are confronted with forgiving those who have caused egregious harm and stark inner pain in their lives. I’m referring to those who are faced with forgiving those who have inflicted significant damage and left destruction and brokenness in their wake. Why would God call upon us to forgive such people? Why would it be necessary for us to embrace this policy? We can understand Christ forgiving everyone, after all, he is God and has the power to do so. But why do we mere mortals have to adopt this sometimes impossible mantle of forgiveness? Jesus actually demands this policy from his followers, saying in the Gospel of Matthew: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Why such emphasis, why such a demand from Jesus?
The reason for this commandment to forgive draws from the fact that if one adopts the nature of complete forgiveness to all who have wronged, regardless of offense, then one truly can begin to understand the depths of Christ’s grace. And in the same way, better understand the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Jesus did not just die for those who approved of him, or complimented him, or agreed with him; he died for all people of the world, past, present, and future. He died for his disciples, and he died for the Roman Guards who mocked him. In his final breath, he proclaimed forgiveness upon the whole creation.
When we forgive others, we release the sin that has been committed into the hands of God and ask him to resolve what has occurred in his own way. In other words, we take it out of our own hands and give it over to God. To forgive is not to say that everything that person did was correct, quite the opposite. It is saying that you yourself acknowledge the brokenness in the other person and hand it over to our Lord. By doing so, you embody Christ on the cross in the moment he lifted the world for the heavenly Father to forgive. If we embrace this notion of forgiveness, it also protects us from becoming so consumed by bitterness and hatred. It removes the threat that we might take on the mantle of judge, jury, and at times even executioner.
The famous Reverend Oswald Chambers said this about forgiveness, “If the unmerited forgiveness of God awarded to me is not exercised toward others, my justification is annulled. Forgetting is the essence of divine forgiveness. Unless my forgiveness of other people ‘forgets’ their trespasses against me, the grace of God in me is a mere painted flower, and I am an actor.” Chambers here radically promotes the thought that a “Christian” who rejects the forgiveness of others actually has no genuine concept of Christ or salvation itself. The ability to forgive, or the ability to adopt a nature of forgiveness, is the sign of a true believer in Christ.
I watched this past weekend a wife stand up to speak whose husband had been murdered in front of the whole world. I watched this woman stand before the world and forgive the man who took her husband’s life. Is this woman perfect, or her husband perfect, by no means. But in that moment, her mercy and forgiveness exemplified in wondrous beauty the actual call of Christ. It called people to show compassion and forgiveness, while the rest of the world spewed retaliation and retribution. It rose above the hatred and vitriol of today’s world and shone like a beacon for many to see, embodying this simple truth…
Those whom Jesus Christ has forgiven are required to show the same forgiveness, grace, and mercy towards others. By doing so, we affirm our own salvation, understanding that even as sinners, Christ’s love and forgiveness have covered us. As Jesus said in Matthew 6, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
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Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield, TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
