In
last weekend’s message pastor Dave Roberts took our congregation into the strange and
mysterious world of forgiveness. It’s a
world in which we know we should live. Yet, it is a world that is difficult to
grasp, a challenge to embrace; easy to talk about, hard to live out. Nevertheless, to Peter’s question, “Lord, how
many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “Not
seven times, but seventy-seven times” (some
translations read “seventy times seven) (Matthew 18:21-22). In other words, “Quit measuring. Live in a
spirit of forgiveness.”
Forgiveness is a huge issue, isn’t it? It is not to be taken lightly and it is too
serious an issue to be reduced to pity quotes.
When I think about people and
acts that have hurt me deeply and have forced me to deal with the issue as to
whether or not I will respond in and of myself or as a follower of the greatest
Forgiver I’ve ever known, I think of the words of C. S. Lewis, “To be a Christian means to forgive the
inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” Desmond tutu said, “Forgiveness does not mean
condoning what has been done. Forgiving means abandoning your right to pay back
the perpetrator in his own coin.”
Truth
is we live in a world that inflicts pain and suffering, a world that can drive
one to be bitter, angry, and perpetually frustrated. We’ve probably all been offended, perhaps
many times, and maybe (heaven forbid) we might have even been the cause of others being offended
and or hurt. None of us get out of this
world without the fiber of our lives being tested and strained and
stretched.
The
question comes down to the matter of how we shall live this life that has been
graced to us. How shall we live? Somebody said that life has the ability to
make a person either bitter or better.
What shall it be? That is a
personal question that has nothing to do with how we are dealt with in the
world. The grandfather of a friend of
mine said, “Nothing that happens can hurt me whether I lose or win. Life may be
changed on the surface, but I do my main living within.” Now, whatever that quote may mean, it at
least means that in the midst of what happens we can choose. Do surface matters shape and form me or does
the Spirit of the Lord God within me, shape and form me?
I
am coming to believe that more than anything else forgiveness is an attitude
much more than an action. I would like
to think that in this the influence of the Holy Spirit is leading and
guiding. I certainly don’t have a corner
on truth but at this late date in my life I do know that I need God if I am
going to be conformed to image of Jesus.
In that light I would say the following. For a follower of Jesus
- Forgiveness is not forgetting.
- Forgiveness is not condoning.
- Forgiveness is not absolution.
- Forgiveness is not pretending that everything is fine when it isn’t.
- Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness.
- Forgiveness is embracing what is and facing it truthfully and authentically.
- Forgiveness is letting go of the past and giving it to God so that it won’t determine our future.
- Forgiveness is releasing outcomes to God and then refusing to punish those who hurt us.
- Forgiveness is moving on because we have given life over to our Lord God.
- Forgiveness is a sign of inward health that is being shaped and formed by God who emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
Years
ago, Kent Keith wrote a statement he titled, “The Paradoxical commandments.” I have thought about these “Commandments”
again as I have been reflecting on the message of forgiveness and about what it means to live as a Christian. Someone just a few moments ago left the
office where we had just talked about how being the church is messy because it
is comprised of very real human beings. Keep that in mind as you read the list of
Paradoxical Commandments, and remember God really does love you, He really does
forgive you, and you really are forgiven.
May God help us to take what we are given, let Him stamp it with the
image of Jesus, and then enable us to live lives shaped and formed by God’s
amazing grace.
“The Paradoxical Commandments
Kent M. Keith
© Copyright 1968, renewed 2001
(AKA
– “ten simple rules for
facing life's adversity,” a poem called, “Anyway,” “guidelines for finding
personal meaning in the face of adversity”)
People are illogical, unreasonable, and
self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish
ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win
false friends and true enemies.
false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today
will be forgotten tomorrow.
will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness
make you vulnerable.
make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women
with the biggest ideas
with the biggest ideas
can be shot down by
the smallest men and women
the smallest men and women
with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs
but follow only top dogs.
but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building
may be destroyed overnight.
may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but
may attack you if you do help them.
may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have
and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.”
Then
Dr. Keith says this,
Jesus used paradoxes
to help us see the kingdom of God. His paradoxical statements turned the
secular world upside down…He said that 'whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.' He
said that 'the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.' He said: 'I
tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven.' He said that 'Whoever finds his life will
lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
I’m
going with Jesus on this one.
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