Travelin' by Faith - It IS All About Forgiveness

Think about it.  How many walls are put up between us and friends, between us and family members, between us and co-workers or WORSE between us and God because WE can’t or just plain won’t forgive?  Someone has hurt us in some way, little or big and our hearts cry out for justice.  There are man’s laws which deal with injustice in the world but what about the injustice we have to deal with on our own for which there is no law?   Is it possible we have decided un-forgiveness is that law?

 Does the fact that someone paying for an injustice, whether it is from man’s law or our own law of un-forgiveness, really put our hearts at rest or does it simply satisfy our need for revenge?  Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.  Our hearts are still left with the pain, the hurt, the emptiness that comes from wrongs against us or wrongs we’ve done to others.  The story that prompted this blog was the execution of Troy Davis for the murder of Mark MacPhail.  On one side you have people who support the death penalty and on the other side you have those who are opposed.  I see both sides and understand where they are coming from.  What I wonder though is what is in the heart of someone crying out, for lack of a better word and at the risk of sounding melodramatic, “crucify him!”  Is that a cry for justice or a cry for revenge?  Or is it really a cry for someone to heal their pain and fill the hole in their hearts from a terrible loss?  And is someone else being killed going to heal their pain?  If it does, what does that say about the condition of their heart?  This blog isn’t about whether the death penalty is just or not.  This blog is about the power of forgiveness in everyday life.  Does justice really satisfy by itself or is there something else that must come along?  Sometimes justice alone can’t satisfy the deeper need.  And, just what is the deeper need?

When Jesus denied Himself and gave up His life for God’s cause, it wasn’t only for justice to be satisfied in God’s “court of law.”  Jesus provided a way for God to forgive us.  Justice came not by itself but with forgiveness.  In Micah 6:8 God tells us what is good.  He tells US to act justly and love mercy which is exactly what He did for us through Jesus Christ.  Forgiveness is what we needed the most.  Forgiveness is the deeper need. 

Think about if from a personal perspective.  Is there a wall between us and a friend, family member, co-worker or worse, God?  Is the wall still there because of the act of injustice OR because we haven’t forgiven?  This question can be quite offensive.  It means we have to look at our own individual circumstances as well as our own hearts and ask ourselves this question.  There’s a lot of “yeah, but…” and finger pointing that will come from a question like this.  I believe what is most important about facing this question in our lives is discovering the condition of our own hearts AND realizing the magnitude of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  The first battle comes with facing the question.

I’m not sure there is any greater burden we can carry than the burden of un-forgiveness.  If you have ever carried the burden of not forgiving someone, not being forgiven or not forgiving yourself you know what I mean.  The tragedy is we can carry these burdens without realizing it and if we’re not careful we end up carrying them for a lifetime.  If we’re not careful they can kill us and not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. 

Like the song says, there is power in the blood and I believe its greatest power is that of forgiveness.  If it weren’t for God’s forgiveness, there would still be a wall up between us and Him.