FORGIVING THE UNFORGIVABLE
FORGIVING THE UNFORGIVABLE
Will the really wicked person please stand up? What?! You’re not standing! Why not? I am!
Our pastor preached an excellent sermon based on Matthew 18:21-35. He said one thing, however, that I found hard to swallow. He said that we had all wronged God more than anyone had wronged us.
Now wait a minute, I thought to myself! What about someone who holds vindictive feelings toward someone who has murdered a person whom the vindictive person loved? Surely in that case . . .
And then I remembered two things. A third thing came later, as I reflected further on the sermon.
One of the things which immediately came to mind was one of my students whose son was murdered. The father forgave his son’s killer. Indeed, now that the man is out of prison, they get together to pray for one another.
The second thing which came to mind before I could have a mental debate with my pastor about this matter was another father-son relationship, which I had conveniently forgotten. God had a Son, and he died to pay the sin-debt of us all. Therefore, as I understand the matter, I have killed God’s Son. I am the murderer.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem so hard to forgive others. I had indeed hurt God more than anyone could ever hurt me!
And later, a third thought wormed its way into my hard heart and twisted mind: If God is the greatest lover of them all, and if he loves everyone and everything in His universe, and if every wrong that we do is a perversion of love, then God is the most intense sufferer of them all. If God forgives me, it is indeed a terribly wicked thing to refuse to forgive others.
Well, I need to bring this post to an end. I have a few people to forgive, and I need to do it now!
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