In today's Christianity, poems, songs, sermons, and all kinds of books are written on the subject of forgiveness. For most, Christian or non-Christian, forgiveness sounds great; it's for those whose lives are easy, but unless you're the one who feels the pain, you realize that it's impossible to forgive (Pastor Tullian).
While my situation is incomparable to the suffering that many have had to endure through the years, God used this sequence of events to open my eyes to the literal impossibility of human to human forgiveness without having been gripped by the reality of forgiveness in the Gospel..
I was leaving for my first semester of college in August of 2010 in a mere two days. I had one more carpet cleaning appointment in Acmeville, NH, in 90 degree weather, and I was ready to call it quits. As usual, I got lost. I needed to turn around and reorient myself towards the proper direction of my appointment. The only place to initiate my three-point turn happened to be in the parking-lot of the Acmeville Fire Department. I pulled up along the right side of the road and began backing up into the FD's small parking lot. Unbeknownst to me, there were two men in one of the fire trucks that started to pull forwards out of the garage at the same moment that I was backing up. Not having expected such a monstrous vehicle to be in the act of moving towards me, I continued backing up as any reasonable person would. In a split second, I was alarmed by the sirens, and immediately slammed on the brakes. It was too late. I had just caused over $1,500 worth of damage to my vehicle and the fire truck. I heard nothing about this situation until January of 2012, when I found out that the incident was going to be put in the books and affect my insurance record for the next three years- not three years from when the incident occurred, but three years from when claim was finally processed... two weeks ago.
In all honesty, I cannot see why I should get pinned with three years of increased insurance premiums and a blemish on a previously unstained motor vehicle record; if anything, it should have been a no-fault situation. When I listened on the phone as my mom relayed the details of this transaction, I began to get very angry. This is not the kind of angry that I get when my brother leaves the door open to my room. This is an abiding, resentful, and bitter cloud of anger that settled on me in a very peculiar way that afternoon. In my recollection, I had never been unjustly treated in this magnitude. I knew that it was highly unlikely for anyone to enter a skirmish with a branch of public service and win. But such a thing had never happened to me.
After these swirling emotions had their full effect on my spirit, transforming me into a brooding and unpleasant soul, I was startlingly made aware of the concept of forgiveness. It was a strange thought, that in my heart I was actually withholding forgiveness from those who had (in my mind) acted unjustly to the detriment of my record. I've heard it said that the only true antidote to the bitterness and the anger we experience because we've suffered injustice is forgiveness.
This is great. Not only have I identified the problem (anger because of injustice) and also identified the solution (forgiveness), all I need to do is to actually forgive these people I have never met. The only problem is that forgiving does not mitigate in any way the injustice that has been thrust upon me. I will still have a soiled driving record and raised insurance premiums for the next three years. Steve Brown said it best:
If I had not been and am not being forgiven by the wrath-satisfying death of Jesus as an act of mediation between my despicable state and the perfection of the Almighty God (1 Corinthians 15:1-2), I would, in my own mind, still have grounds on which I could still hold grudges and not completely let go of such small afflictions, viz. an unmerited parking citation. Like I said, I understand that the experience that I have described is nothing compared to the difficulty and travail of many more that have been mocked, cursed, abused, molested, even tortured, but the fact remains: if your soul has been saved from the pit of hell, everlasting torment, and separation from He who holds all things together, and the One God and Creator deals with you as a Father deals with His child, there is no more heinous wrong that has been righted excepting the infinite gap between you and The Holy God that has been reduced to nothing so that you might enter into eternal life and relationship with Him. I am now free to forgive anyone anything, because I realize that there is no greater act of forgiveness than that which has been and is being ministered to me be my Savior through His work on my behalf.
Keeping in mind that amazing love with which He loves us, it is now possible to forgive those who has abused, misused, and mistreated us. We've been forgiven an infinite debt- what else is there to forgive? All that we need we have in the obedience of Christ in my stead. Forgiveness, previously impossible because of our hard and vindictive hearts, is now made possible because we have access to infinite forgiveness; this is something into which the angels long to look.
He Alone Is Our Hope.
.DSN.
While my situation is incomparable to the suffering that many have had to endure through the years, God used this sequence of events to open my eyes to the literal impossibility of human to human forgiveness without having been gripped by the reality of forgiveness in the Gospel..
I was leaving for my first semester of college in August of 2010 in a mere two days. I had one more carpet cleaning appointment in Acmeville, NH, in 90 degree weather, and I was ready to call it quits. As usual, I got lost. I needed to turn around and reorient myself towards the proper direction of my appointment. The only place to initiate my three-point turn happened to be in the parking-lot of the Acmeville Fire Department. I pulled up along the right side of the road and began backing up into the FD's small parking lot. Unbeknownst to me, there were two men in one of the fire trucks that started to pull forwards out of the garage at the same moment that I was backing up. Not having expected such a monstrous vehicle to be in the act of moving towards me, I continued backing up as any reasonable person would. In a split second, I was alarmed by the sirens, and immediately slammed on the brakes. It was too late. I had just caused over $1,500 worth of damage to my vehicle and the fire truck. I heard nothing about this situation until January of 2012, when I found out that the incident was going to be put in the books and affect my insurance record for the next three years- not three years from when the incident occurred, but three years from when claim was finally processed... two weeks ago.
In all honesty, I cannot see why I should get pinned with three years of increased insurance premiums and a blemish on a previously unstained motor vehicle record; if anything, it should have been a no-fault situation. When I listened on the phone as my mom relayed the details of this transaction, I began to get very angry. This is not the kind of angry that I get when my brother leaves the door open to my room. This is an abiding, resentful, and bitter cloud of anger that settled on me in a very peculiar way that afternoon. In my recollection, I had never been unjustly treated in this magnitude. I knew that it was highly unlikely for anyone to enter a skirmish with a branch of public service and win. But such a thing had never happened to me.
After these swirling emotions had their full effect on my spirit, transforming me into a brooding and unpleasant soul, I was startlingly made aware of the concept of forgiveness. It was a strange thought, that in my heart I was actually withholding forgiveness from those who had (in my mind) acted unjustly to the detriment of my record. I've heard it said that the only true antidote to the bitterness and the anger we experience because we've suffered injustice is forgiveness.
This is great. Not only have I identified the problem (anger because of injustice) and also identified the solution (forgiveness), all I need to do is to actually forgive these people I have never met. The only problem is that forgiving does not mitigate in any way the injustice that has been thrust upon me. I will still have a soiled driving record and raised insurance premiums for the next three years. Steve Brown said it best:
Forgiveness always costs someone something. We have this spurious idea that forgiveness is simply saying, "I forgive you" and then going on with out lives. It doesn't work that way. For instance, if I steal form you and you forgive me, it will cost you whatever I stole. If you hit me and I forgive you, it's going to cost me the pain of your blow. If I gossip about you and hurt your reputation and you forgive me, it may still cost you your reputation. If you have been abused and you forgive your abuser, it will still cost you the emotional damage that abuse brings.Forgiveness is not just hard, it's impossible. Completely letting go of anger, bitterness, and resentment is certainly an emotional yet truly spiritual impossibility. "Why is forgiveness utterly impossible?" one might ask. Here's why: apart from the life-raising, soul-cleansing, and completely-undeserved mercy and grace administered to all who put their faith in Jesus as their only hope for salvation, there is no other standard or reality of forgiveness to which one can appeal to fully satisfy the need for justice in an unjust situation.
If I had not been and am not being forgiven by the wrath-satisfying death of Jesus as an act of mediation between my despicable state and the perfection of the Almighty God (1 Corinthians 15:1-2), I would, in my own mind, still have grounds on which I could still hold grudges and not completely let go of such small afflictions, viz. an unmerited parking citation. Like I said, I understand that the experience that I have described is nothing compared to the difficulty and travail of many more that have been mocked, cursed, abused, molested, even tortured, but the fact remains: if your soul has been saved from the pit of hell, everlasting torment, and separation from He who holds all things together, and the One God and Creator deals with you as a Father deals with His child, there is no more heinous wrong that has been righted excepting the infinite gap between you and The Holy God that has been reduced to nothing so that you might enter into eternal life and relationship with Him. I am now free to forgive anyone anything, because I realize that there is no greater act of forgiveness than that which has been and is being ministered to me be my Savior through His work on my behalf.
Keeping in mind that amazing love with which He loves us, it is now possible to forgive those who has abused, misused, and mistreated us. We've been forgiven an infinite debt- what else is there to forgive? All that we need we have in the obedience of Christ in my stead. Forgiveness, previously impossible because of our hard and vindictive hearts, is now made possible because we have access to infinite forgiveness; this is something into which the angels long to look.
He Alone Is Our Hope.
.DSN.
I love this one...
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