The Word
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:32
The Thought
I heard it said years ago that the most Christ-like thing one can do is to forgive.
Forgiveness.
There is no shortage to being asked to do this on a regular basis. People let us down. Friends fail us. Family hurts us. The wounds run deep and we wonder if mending will ever come.
Sometimes it is the day to day forgiveness we find most difficult to extend. I’ve been known to harbor resentment over small things.
I read it the other day in C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Malcolm and the beauty continues to speak to me:
“So many things are done easily the moment you can do them at all. But till then, sheerly impossible, like learning to swim. There are months during which no efforts will keep you up; then comes the day and hour and minute after which, and ever after, it becomes almost impossible to sink. It also seemed to me that forgiving (that man’s cruelty) and being forgiven (my resentment) were the very same thing. ‘Forgive and you shall be forgiven’ sounds like a bargain.”
I’ve been ruminating on this insight from C. S. Lewis: Forgiving and Being Forgiven= the same thing.
Let this sink in for just a moment.
I find myself on a daily basis asking God for forgiveness. I am a sinner, if it’s not one thing it’s another. Caught up in words tangled in lies. I am in constant need of a Savior, salvation from me. I am in constant need of deliverance from my own resentment towards those who have wronged me.
Psalm 38 beautifully depicts the anguish from a heart that needs forgiveness:
“There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.” (v. 3-4)
The burden of David’s sin was too heavy for him to carry. His health was deteriorating because of his sin.
Is there a load heavier to bear than the weight that comes from our own sin?
“My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning . . . I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.” (v.5-6, 8)
David is at the end of his rope: physically, emotionally, relationally.
Perhaps you can relate?
Every follower of Christ knows the suffering that results when we do things our own way. The pain that follows selfish decisions.
Is there hope for when we are at our end, desperate for forgiveness from God? Have we failed Him to the point of no return?
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