A Thought For The Week Of June 12, 2017

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Colossians 3:13) This verse appears right in the middle of an extended passage in Colossians (3:9-17) about forgiveness. It's very sound advice, it's very Christian - and it's very healthy. In my opinion, nothing good ever came from hanging on to unforgiveness. Unforgiveness eats away at us and usually ends up hurting us far more than it hurts the person we're unable to forgive - if only because they probably really don't care if we forgive them or not. But, of course, as beneficial as it might be for us to forgive - it is hard. It may be the hardest part of Christian life. The very fact that we have to forgive someone is a reminder to us that they must have in some way hurt us. The Bible says that vengeance is God's, but usually we prefer to leave the forgiving to God and take the vengeance ourselves. That's understandable, because it's very human - but it doesn't make it Christian. We want those who have hurt us to be in our debt - which is essentially what unforgiveness is. So we have to find a way to let go of what we feel others owe us. A couple of verses later, we find perhaps the key: "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." I take note of the fact that Paul speaks here of the peace OF Christ and not peace FROM Christ. That's a very small difference - but it strikes me as important. This isn't just any peace that comes to us. It's the same peace that Christ himself had in his heart that we are to allow to rule in our hearts. It's the same peace that allowed Jesus to look down from the cross at those who had crucified him and were tormenting him and still ask for them to be forgiven by his Father. That's a tough forgiveness to give, because those being forgiven weren't even asking to be forgiven. They didn't think they were doing anything wrong! In fact, they were busy celebrating what had happened. But still Christ forgave them. That's the peace OF Christ that's to rule in our hearts. If only we could reach the point of offering unconditional forgiveness to all who have hurt us and no longer hold them in our debt. That's tough, and it's the tough parts of living a Christian life that are the easiest to turn away from and make excuses afterward. But if we could do it - we would, indeed, have a better world.