Disclaimer: I have often shared that my sermons (and now my blogs) are just a culmination of an ongoing conversation that God and I have been having about my spiritual walk ... and I am amazed by the number of people who show up on... Sunday morning (or now, click on my blog) to eavesdrop on that conversation. Today's blog is more so in that vain than anything that I have recently wrote. Just thought you would like to know. I needed to hear this message more than anyone else. It is a struggle.
Forgiveness is a challenging act of grace. Often is heard, “I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget!” And thus the burden continues to be carried, the weight of which can destroy the one carrying the memory. The deeds done can be devastating and very destructive … both to the victim and the victimizer. Both individuals are carrying the burden and both can be destroyed emotionally, physically and mentally by the burden of memory.
General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, "I never forgive and I never forget." To which Wesley replied, "Then, Sir, I hope you never sin." Or, as Jesus shared when a woman caught committing adultery was brought to him for stoning, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” (John 8:7) It is easy to harbor ill feelings for another. What these other individuals have done is probably mean spirited and deeply hurtful. And so we carry the burden. As long as we continue to carry the burden, we continue to be the victim and their bad behavior continues to have a direct effect upon us – in every aspect of our lives … no corner is left untouched … darkness in one aspect of our life brings darkness to everything else. It is hard and challenging to forgive completely, which means that we harbor no ill feelings for the one who victimized us, but necessary for our health – emotionally, physically and mentally.
The senior minister and a number of lay people participated in a prayer ministry, in one church where I was the associate pastor. This prayer ministry was one where they would counsel individuals and lead them through the various aspects of their life, praying for healing and wholeness at each stage. The deeper they went the more emotionally wrenching the sessions became. The last session, so I was told, was the one dealing with forgiveness and forgetting. Not everyone who went through the prayer ministry sessions made it through this last session because, as a general rule, we do desire to forgive, but do not want to forgive. And, we do not like to remember the hurt that we have inflicted on others … which is part of the process.
The Cross of Jesus stands as God’s reminder of the cruelty of sin and anger and the empty tomb stands as God’s reminder of the joy and possibility of forgiveness. Chuck Swindoll reports that a seminary student in Chicago faced a forgiveness test. Although he preferred to work in some kind of ministry, the only job he could find was driving a bus on Chicago's south side. One day a gang of tough teens got on board and refused to pay the fare. After a few days of this, the seminarian spotted a policeman on the corner, stopped the bus, and reported them. The officer made them pay, but then he got off. When the bus rounded a corner, the gang robbed the seminarian and beat him severely. He pressed charges and the gang was rounded up. They were found guilty. But as soon as the jail sentence was given, the young Christian saw their spiritual need and felt pity for them. So he asked the judge if he could serve their sentences for them. The gang members and the judge were dumbfounded. "It's because I forgive you," he explained. His request was denied, but he visited the young men in jail and led several of them to faith in Christ.
Could it be … just possibly … that God placed the victimizers in our lives so that they could experience for the first time in their life unconditional love? Could our paths have crossed so that they could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ from our lips? Could they have become involved in our life because God knew that there was something in both of us that needed to be healed? Could God have brought them into our lives because we each had something to give to each other? We don’t meet individuals by accident. God has a plan for their life and for ours. We need each other to fulfill that plan. Unfortunately, we each bring our history into any and every relationship which means all the bad stuff as well … and it is the bad stuff that causes one of us to become the victim and the other to become the victimizer. But, at some point the line should be drawn in the sand stating forever, let the hurt end now and the healing begin … let us forgive and forget.
In "The Christian Leader," Don Ratzlaff retells a story Vernon Grounds came across in Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect . . . The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness." Sacrificial love has transforming power.
Easter is about the transforming power of God if we would but allow it to take place and become a reality in and through us. I have shared in a number of sermons a “what if” situation … What if, when you die and arrive at the Pearly Gates, that St. Peter takes on the outward appearance of the individual (or race or religious type) that you hate, dislike or victimized you the most and its this individual who has the power to allow you to enter into Heaven? If that is true would each of us treat others differently now? Would we seek healing now … today? Even with that one individual that hurt us the worse? That one individual which generates the most painful memory?
Forgiveness is a challenging act of grace, but it is possible if we would but allow God to work his miracle of mercy in and through us.
Quote for today: Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never even heard of the incident. "Don't you remember it?" her friend asked. "No," came Barton's reply, "I distinctly remember forgetting it." ~Source unknown
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment