2 Corinthians 12:9
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’
Very recently like many valley experiences, the Lord lead us into something so awefully painful, heavily crushing yet something eternally beautiful. Beautiful because we had to let go of self, of our will, our understanding, our honour and purely trust God for the steps ahead.
Here, I am speaking about seeking forgiveness and the process of forgiveness. The Lord in His mercy, allows us many a times – to either be a recipient or the giver of ‘forgiveness’. This journey is definitely a humbling one and this season He has been showing us that the pain of forgiveness – willing to forgive, is not an easy cross. A man who forgives is not a strong willed man, he is a man willing to let go of his strength that lies in his will and thus forgive. He needs abundance of grace in this process. There is a lot of pain in forgiving another person. He has to put aside past failures, hurts, past or repeated lack of trust, coldness and many other things and choose mercy and compassion over judgement. In the wisdom that comes from the world, this is utterly meaningless. Yet, a forgiven heart like Peter, has a great value in the eyes of God. I believe God sees this virtue deeper than we do. It’s easy to be perfect I would say, any code can write perfect outcomes, yet to stumble and fall and seek forgiveness and receive it, could mean a crushing not many would desire and this path not many would choose for themselves. Yet, the beauty in a crushed soul, not many possess. The embroideries produced by machines are seemless, equally sized, perfectly coloured yet the beauty in hand-made embroidery – ‘handicrafts’ goes way beyond any machine could render. When such a crushed and broken man speaks to God, he is never boastful again.. He simply says… ‘You know it all’!!! And such is a man of whom God could boast to the heavens and to the earth – “have you seen this man/woman……?”
The Prodigal son came home a repented sinner saved by the grace of God which flowed down upon him in the form of a love by his father. Yet let’s remember it was this old grey headed ‘father’, who had to carry his ‘cross’ to forgive the same son who a couple of months ago had rejected him and had chosen a way, away from him. Yet he chose to forgive.
Why is forgiving another person so difficult? It is painful. It is coming down to the cross of Jesus Christ and telling the other person, I accept you again. Has the person changed? We do not know!! Will he not commit the things he has been forgiven for? We do not know!! Is his repentance genuine or merely words? We do not know!! That’s why – forgiveness is not easy!! And what is impossible with men is possible with God alone. In the flesh we may try to take this path of forgiveness, yet we find that our forgiveness has not even gone deeper than the first layer of our skin. It is the cross, sometimes repeatedly, to willingly be willing to forgive the other person with – no conditions attatched.
The greatest fruit of a heart that is willing to forgive is ‘grace’. Grace upon grace to fulfil one of the most difficult commandment of Christ and that to ‘forgive’. There are many things that the Lord has said cannot be attributed to man.. a man cannot be called good, only the Father is. A nursing mother will never forget her child, and even if she does, God doesn’t forsake us. Yet to my surprise Jesus challenges us to forgive and be merciful like the Heavenly Father is!! He would never challenge us something and not give us the grace to do so!!
Corrie Ten Boon, had witnessed this grace upon her time a couple of times. At one of her meetings, she saw a tall Nazi approaching towards her. The flood of emotions sprang up in her head. No, I am not sympathetic towards a heart that struggles to forgive. Forgiveness is a process of breaking, and anything that can break us and produce genuine aroma of Christ in us is profitable to the soul. Corrie Ten Boon in her own words has explained forgiveness is not a human feeling, but an act of the will made possible through God’s love.
She continues to describe her meeting of the Nazi Officer who hit and insulted her and her sister Betsie. Years later when he attended her meeting as a born again believer. He comes to her and tells her, “I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well.. stretching his hands he asked her..” will you forgive me?”
In her own words, Corrie mentions,
And I stood there, I whose sins had every day to be forgiven, could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place, could he erase her slow terrible death simply for asking?
She says, she wrestled with the most difficult thing she had ever had to do..”Jesus help me’ I prayed silently, I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feelings. And so woodenly, mechanically I trust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder… ” This is a beautiful narrative of her experience.
The pain of forgiveness is real and the fruits of the process too. May our wooden souls seek this favour and grace from God to forgive seventy times seven when required of us. May the memory of past hurts fade into His presence. May our eyes behold His forgiveness towards us and may our heart be willing to be merciful to those who need mercy. Amen
