Mountain Musings Forgiveness

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 English Standard Version

               When I first deployed to Iraq, I thought my enemy would come at me with IEDs, RPGs, and mortars, and they did. But I also found that there was an enemy within that sought my failure and the destruction of my career. They were assigned as an excess officer to the division and connived to subvert me at every opportunity. Our chief of staff, susceptible to their machinations, soon developed an antagonistic attitude towards me savaging me publicly at every opportunity. Eventually, I sought relief and refuge outside the Forward Operating Base (FOB) as often as I could. Fortunately for me, I transferred to another unit when the division redeployed, and my career survived the personal attacks and caustic command environment. However, when I shuffled across BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) there was a giant rock of unforgiveness in my rucksack. That rock of unforgiveness so weighed me down that at one point I nearly engaged in violence against my own comrades. I had to do something.

               Eventually, with the help of a Godly chaplain, I relinquished that rock, turning over the responsibility for justice to the Lord. You see, we often think that forgiveness is about being able to feel better about an offense or violation. Those may be components of a specific act of forgiveness; however, forgiveness at its core is about relinquishing our seeking revenge or justice. As I tap this out on my computer, the old feelings of anger and frustration rise up within me, like some long dead hoary ghost. I want to pick that rock back up and carry it again. Perhaps, and this is the scary part, I can manage to find a way to hurl it at my antagonist. Forgiveness requires that I let someone else take care of the offense, whether it be God or some other human institution. To forgive, I lay down my right of retribution. When I do so, I allow the Lord to heal my heart, my hurt. So much of the time, we cannot balance the books as it were.

³ Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, ⁴ and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Luke 17:3-5

The apostles understood something we often forget, the linkage of forgiveness and faith. When I forgive someone, I turn over my right of vengeance. In our modern culture of personal rights and litigation, we find forgiveness challenging. We want justice and encouraged by our society; we seek it. Jesus calls us to turn it over to God, trusting Him to take care of our need for redress.

               In the episode I shared, the vagaries of military assignments took me away from my offenders, leaving me unable to seek justice. Had I determined to carry that particular rock, the frustration and anger would have eaten away at me. By letting go of that rock, allowing the Lord to deal with it in His own way and time, I let Him start to work on my heart. Forgiveness opens the door for the Lord to apply his healing balm. When we forgive, we admit our own inability to apply justice and turn that job over to the Lord. In the Luke passage above we see the linkage between forgiveness and faith. In the Matthew passage, Jesus reminds us that our own forgiveness is contingent upon our willingness to forgive others. My own hard heart may inhibit the work of the Lord. Our lack of faith makes forgiveness difficult, if not impossible. We must trust the Lord to take care of balancing our personal ledger, never forgetting our own failures.

⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Matthew 7:5

               Jesus reminds us that our own failures need forgiveness and encourages us to deal with your own problems before we seek to address our brother’s. When I remember my numerous failures, it is much easier to forgive those who offend me. When the hurt is deep, forgiveness takes time. Such wounds do not heal quickly. Remember, the Lord is patient and willing to work with us of the long haul. Sometimes, we must seek God’s help repeatedly. Fortunately for us, God seems to delight in helping us and extending His love in our direction. He is quick to forgive, setting a fine example for you and me.