TIME TO GO TO THE CROSS AGAIN

If we could learn one lesson in 2007 that would increase our spiritual and emotional health more than anything else, it would be this one: how to forgive. Admittedly, it’s not easy. We live in a world that vigorously teaches us how to hold grudges. “Everybody thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea,” wrote C. S. Lewis, “until he has something to forgive.”

That puts it pretty straight, doesn’t it? All of us who are aware of our sin naturally want to be forgiven. Indeed, even those who aren’t aware of their sin actually need to be forgiven, whether they know it or not.

It’s worth remembering that Jesus said that receiving forgiveness from God goes hand in hand with extending forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. Listen to His very words as recorded in Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.”

Jesus said that immediately after teaching the infant church what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” in which one of the petitions says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That little word “as” is the important one. It means exactly what Jesus expounded upon after the prayer: if we are unwilling to give forgiveness, we don’t receive it.

Many people are too easily offended. Some almost seem to take pride in their ability to hold a grudge or in their refusal to humble themselves or in their resistance to seeking or extending forgiveness. By contrast, true Christians love forgiveness. Because of God’s forgiveness of them, they know beautiful and Godlike it is to give or get forgiveness.

So how do we learn to forgive in a grudge-keeping world?

I have one bit of advice: go to the cross. Look upon the supreme sacrifice of the Son of God, and gaze in wonder upon the agony He suffered in bearing the sins of the world. Then remember that what He bore embraced every sin you’ve ever committed, including the grudges you’ve held. Realize that His torturous death was the punishment you should have received for what you did.

Pause and ponder the cost of your forgiveness, and then consider whether it makes more sense to forgive those who have wronged you, or to keep holding onto it. I believe you’ll see the folly of unforgiveness more clearly in the light of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The testimony of the late great British preacher Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones should be the heart-cry of every Christian: “I say to the glory of God and in utter humility that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything.”

Amazing words: “ready to forgive anybody anything.”

How close are you to that?

It’s time to go to the cross again.