Unforgivable

 

Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12

For whatever reason, I seem to be experiencing a season of testing in the area of forgiveness. It's not just my own challenges either. I've had a couple of friends come to me to talk about how much we're supposed to forgive, how often and what that means going forward.

In those conversations it's easy to quote the Scriptures about forgiveness. It's easy to talk about the next steps, reconciliation or moving on from those people who are toxic to us.* The conversations are easy. The actual living out that forgiveness is hard, very hard. As flawed human beings, when the offense is too much for us, or has happened too often, we say, “That it's! That one is unforgivable.” Hm.....

Think about Jesus. He suffered and died for all sin. All sin. Every single sin that had been committed, has been committed or will be committed, those sins caused the torture, humiliation and ultimate death of the One perfect being. Not His sin, not His shame, but ours. Think of the worst thing you've ever done. Now think of the worst thing that has ever been done to you. Now, think about the most horrific event you've ever heard about. Are any of those unforgivable?

Personally there have been a few moments lately when I've been sorely tempted to think of an event or action as unforgivable. Wrong. Who am I to say something cannot be forgiven? Jesus knows each and every one of us at our very core. He knew all about the horrible things man would do to man and to ourselves when He made His way up that hill to His death. Not once did He stop and say, “Oh wait, most of it, sure, I can forgive most of it, but that one thing.... No sir. That's it. That's where I draw the line.” Not at murder, not at torture, not at rape, not at stealing, not lying, not deliberate humiliation, not at pettiness, not at any point at any action or any thought, did Jesus say, “Sorry, you've pushed me too far.”

I'm pointing fingers here but mostly at my own chest. As I said, I've been very tempted to withhold forgiveness but the truth is, it isn't mine to withhold. I live by God's grace and God's grace alone. My Father gave clear instructions about forgiveness and I need to follow them. I doubt that I'm the only one who needs this reminder and my prayer is that if you are reading this, it will enable you to forgive others as we have been so richly forgiven.

*That is not to say those people are evil or without any positive attribute. Toxic relationships are a two way street. Think oil and water, or gasoline and matches. Some relationships just don't gel. Others are truly dangerous because two perfectly fine substances simply cannot co-exist.