SOM - Part 15

I am still processing the Sermon on the Mount. I have gone through the 25 posts and edited them for clarity and to revisit them for myself. Now I want to look at the applications I should be making for myself.

SOM - Part 15

From a purely selfish standpoint, forgiveness stinks. It means that I am letting someone get away with something. It means that I have been wronged or taken advantage of and I don't get to make things even. 

Or does it?

I ask this because there are a lot of other elements to this issue that just the above. Let's look at one example. Say you were bullied in elementary school. You no longer have contact with the bully, and have not since school. Yet hardly a day goes by that you don't think about what they did to you, and it hurts. You often tell others about this, and say that you wish you would run into the bully again, so you could give them a piece of you mind. You refuse to let the issue die, and are not ashamed to say so. My question is, who is being harmed here and by what? You or the bully who does not even know that you are still alive, let alone angry with him? That being said, some issues are not easy to forgive. How do you let go of feelings that have been a part of you for years, maybe even decades? These feelings have been there through thick and thin, and may have even protected you at times. And yet, it seems that this is exactly what Jesus is asking. Sometimes following Him is difficult. 

Difficult yes, but it is not just because God does not want you to be angry. God knows the hurt that events of the past may have brought, but He also sees the destructive force of the anger and the bitterness causes not only on you, but on those around you. It reminds me of the time I got a rather large splinter in me. That splinter had to come out. To leave it in would open the door to all kinds of infection. But taking it out was not going to be without pain either. What to do? Of course, I know the splinter had to go. 

Take Away: Forgiveness is not an option. It is not something that I should wait on until I am ready either. I imagine that if I had waited until I was ready to endure the pain of having the splinter removed it would still be there, that is if I would have survived the infection that surely would have followed. But what about ongoing pain caused by others? I will answer that with another question, how would you be preferred to be forgiven by God? Would you prefer that He wait until you are finished sinning before giving you forgiveness? Choose carefully, because there seems to be a lot at stake.

It may not be easy. News flash, Jesus never said it would be, contrary to what is preached by some today. In fact, He talked about tough things we would need to do beyond forgiveness that would be essential if we were to enter the kingdom of God. Things like carrying our cross (Mark 8:34), loving Him more than we love our family (Matthew 10:37), and facing hatred and persecution (Matthew 10:22,23) to name a few. I am not sure what to say next. I want to say something to soften the blow. I want to make everything okay, I want to draw people in with some comforting words. But sometimes that is not in order. Sometimes we need to experience pain and work through it in order to grow. 

It's one thing to offer comfort in times of pain, it is quite another to candy-coat the truth. Or avoid the truth altogether because it is uncomfortable or I don't like it. I speak to myself here. All too often I take the easy way out. But in the long run, I suffer. I need to remember that when I take that easy road. I need to look for and travel the narrow road, the one that leads to life.