FORGIVENESS MUST HAVE A FACE

"When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way... so I stole a bicycle... and asked him to forgive me." Well, there are 100s of jokes about forgiveness- the one above is by Emo Phillips- but today I want to talk about forgiveness in a serious vein because forgiving lies at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian! 

Jesus' entire ministry was dedicated to forgiveness. He lived and died with forgiveness on his mind, and it seems to me that the most quintessential thing we can do as Christians is to FORGIVE others. Friends, if you want to do what Jesus did, go and forgive someone, and do it again and again and again- 70 times 7- as a way of life! A forgiving spirit is a Christian spirit. So let me offer a few thoughts that may be helpful:

1. Forgiving others is a choice! It's not a feeling. It is a decision that our faith demands. Forgiving others, especially those who need forgiveness most, is not easy... but if you're waiting to feel like forgiving another person, you may be waiting a very, very long time;

2,  Forgiving others will make you healthy! Yes, it's true. For those who are scientifically minded, let me say that forgiving others helps lower blood pressure, improves sleep quality, reduces depression, lowers risk of drug abuse, and allows YOU to move on with your life, which is a big plus;

3. Forgiving others restores our relationship with GOD.  Resentment is a deadly spiritual cancer which will block our spiritual growth. If we're burdened with resentment, we won't pray, study, or serve God as we

should, and we will deprive ourselves of the joy that God wants us to experience;

4.  Forgiving others... fulfills the new Commandment. As Christians, we are called to love each other AS  Christ loved us, and while this includes a lot of things, it MUST include forgiving one another. To talk about Christ-like love without talking about radical forgiveness would be nonsensical;

5.  Forgiving sin has NOTHING to do with tolerating evil! When one of us hurts or offends another (and it's just a matter of time), we will forgive one another's debts, but that does NOT mean that we condone the behavior involved. Things like abuse, harassment, bullying...cannot be tolerated, and finally;

6.  Forgiveness MUST have a face! I cannot forgive in the abstract. I cannot forgive all sinners everywhere; I can't forgive the Nazis for murdering the Jews; I can't forgive Andrew Jackson for the Trail of Tears; and I can't forgive people who haven't sinned against me. I feel bad about these things, and I'll work to make the world a more compassionate place, but I can't "let go" of someone else's pain. Forgiveness must have a face... which brings me to Corrie ten Boom's famous story. According to Corrie, "It was in a church in Munich that a saw him- a balding, heavy-set man in a grey overcoat, a brown, felt hat in his hands. People were filing out of the basement where I had just spoken. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland with the message that God forgives... And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush- the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the room, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. This man had been a guard at Ravensbruck where we were sent. "You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he said, "I was a guard there, but since that time I became a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well ... 'FRAULEIN, WILL YOU FORGIVE ME?' And I stood there- I whose sins had every day to be forgiven- and could not. Betsy has died in that place. It couldn't have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but it seemed like hours, as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do. For I had to do it! I knew that and still I stood there, with coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion. It is an act of will and that will can function regardless of the temperature of my heart... And so woodenly, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. 'I FORGIVE YOU BROTHER,' I CRIED, 'WITH ALL MY HEART.' For a long moment we grasped each other's hands. the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely... as I did then."

The healing, liberating, and life-changing power of forgiving and being forgiven by another! Can I get an "amen"?