We're all carrying the scars, the battle wounds from this life as a disciple of Jesus. Whether they are self-inflicted or not, they don't heal over in a day. Some, not even in a lifetime. Even if words of forgiveness have been spoken, even if we're actively seeking to be a blessing through prayer or otherwise, that which caused the pain can still come to our minds. I can taste the bitterness. I can imagine the opportunities to settle the score, to voice my hurt. And I know that is the old man that has been crucified with Christ trying to reassert himself.
Yet you and I don't have to surrender. Just because I feel a certain way at a certain time does not mean that my firm resolution to love is false. It means that I must overcome my feelings to continue doing what grace has prompted me to do.
One other thing: I think I better understand what it means to forgive in Christ. We can forgive unilaterally in a certain way, not allowing the sins of others to define our participation in the love of Christ. But saying this could make it seem like we deny the wrongs done, or the gravity of them. On the contrary; we unilaterally forgive precisely because sin has eternal consequences. I choose to be an agent in your redemption, unnamed person who wronged me, because the true consequences of what you've done are much graver than my wounds. Indeed, if no one interceded, that person would be alone and in straits more dire than any wounds I could inflict.
In this case, the wounds are fresh, and they are ongoing. But it is the ever-present reality of judgment that persuades me that what I am owed pales in comparison to what God is owed! I will not leave a person I love without an advocate, no matter what has been done or said to me.
Yet you and I don't have to surrender. Just because I feel a certain way at a certain time does not mean that my firm resolution to love is false. It means that I must overcome my feelings to continue doing what grace has prompted me to do.
One other thing: I think I better understand what it means to forgive in Christ. We can forgive unilaterally in a certain way, not allowing the sins of others to define our participation in the love of Christ. But saying this could make it seem like we deny the wrongs done, or the gravity of them. On the contrary; we unilaterally forgive precisely because sin has eternal consequences. I choose to be an agent in your redemption, unnamed person who wronged me, because the true consequences of what you've done are much graver than my wounds. Indeed, if no one interceded, that person would be alone and in straits more dire than any wounds I could inflict.
In this case, the wounds are fresh, and they are ongoing. But it is the ever-present reality of judgment that persuades me that what I am owed pales in comparison to what God is owed! I will not leave a person I love without an advocate, no matter what has been done or said to me.
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