February 07, 2011
Beyond Forgiveness
Forgiveness doesn’t always come naturally. Even though I forgive someone, sometimes in the back of my mind there is the thought that God, in his own way, will still deal with the offender. Stephen, as he was being stoned, could have said to the rock-throwers, ‘I forgive you’. But he didn’t. Rather he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60 NIV) Its one thing for us forgive someone who has sinned against us, it’s quite another to ask God to wipe the sinners slate clean and not hold them accountable for the sin.
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----A wrong causes damage. Damage has both a temporal and an eternal aspect. The eternal aspect is simple. Nothing that causes damage will take part in the kingdom of heaven. The temporal is more complicated. It involves physical damage, psychological damage, and spiritual damage. Biblical principles make provision for restitution regarding physical and psychology damages. Forgiveness does not carte blanc nullify those principles, but mercy and grace effects them.
-----Should you desire God’s dealing with your offender? I think yes. His offense has not damaged you alone; it has also damaged himself. I believe God’s most important area of dealing with an offender is the spiritual damage the offender has caused to himself. Only God can resolve the eternal aspect of that damage. From what I read in the Word, to do that He will need some amount of repentance and a calling on Jesus by the offender. These are what I most desire when I have been damaged, because I believe no amount of damage to me could possibly be worth my offender’s eternal torture. So, whether through events and circumstances, good or bad, or by the preaching of Christ, I want God to drag whatever reasoning across the offender’s mind He knows will effect a cry for salvation from him. My forgiveness immediately goes out to him with that prayer for God to do deal with him thusly.
-----But this does not alleviate all of the damage. The temporal damage still needs resolution - mine and his. I’ve been trying to get the choke set properly on my ‘84 Bronco. There are six different adjusting points on the carburetor effecting a correct choke setting. Each point of adjustment effects all the others, too. I think God’s efforts to get temporal damages mitigated are kind of like my efforts to get that choke set. I’m glad it’s His area. And I know I would like my physical damages mitigated, but how much is my desire to be gracious and merciful going to dampen my desire for restitution? How much does he have? How much do I have? How great are his needs? How great are mine? How psychologically injured is he? How big (or little) have I become in being able to simply correct my psychological affairs whether I‘ve received physical restitution or not? Or, how much might my graciousness towards him dampen the needed effects his punishment could have on his eventual cry for salvation? This is a choke I don’t want to fiddle with any further than what is readily apparent to a simple human mind. And my heart pleads for God to deal systemically with the whole of the situation for the best balance of benefit between my offender and myself, whatever that balance might be.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Ouch. If you keep this up I might need to do more thinking.
Grace and Peace.
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