The Power of Forgiveness

A certain married couple had many sharp disagreements.  Yet somehow the wife always stayed calm and collected.  One day her husband commented on his wife’s restraint.  “When I get mad at you”, he said, “you never fight back.  How do you control your anger?”  The wife said, “I work it off by cleaning the toilet.”  The husband said, “How does that help?”  She said, “I use your toothbrush!”

It’s amazing what we’ll do when we take the bait of unforgiveness.  Someone has said that unforgiveness is like taking poison and waiting for the other guy to die.  We live in a litigious society in which we like to hold others responsible for things.  “Who is to blame?” we want to know.  “Someone has to pay” or so we have been taught.  In a world of debt, nobody gets away with anything.  When we say, “We can’t forgive,” we really mean, “We won’t forgive.  We’ve taken the bait.  We have made the clear choice to seek revenge, to hold the grudge, to get even or keep the wound open and unhealed.”

But God holds the cross before our eyes.  As Jesus hangs from that cross, the way of the world would expect Jesus to cry out with words like, “Who is responsible for this?  The Romans?  The Jews?  The Pharisees?  The disciples who betrayed and denied Me?  The people who stood by and did nothing?”   Could He not have cried out looking at each and every one of us saying, “It’s your fault – your sin put me here!”  Instead, we hear Jesus say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The mercy that God in Christ had for you when He passed over your sins and laid them on the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is the same mercy that He had for that “brother” of yours who has sinned against you.  The patience the Lord had, and has, for you when He endured the scouraging that were due to you, is the same patience that Jesus had, and has, for the “brother” who hurt you.  The forgiveness that the Incarnate Son of God earned for you on Calvay’s cross and guaranteed in His Easter Resurrection, is the same forgiveness earned for your “brother” and which we are all called to share.

As sinful people, we’ll do some amazing things when we take the bait of unforgiveness.  But as healed, redeemed, and forgiven people, we have been granted the privilege of sharing some amazing blessings when we say and hear said, “You are forgiven.”