When Spring comes we think of NEW LIFE—trees budding, bulbs bursting into bloom as the ground warms, more sunny, warm days that make us itch (well, some of us!!!) to get outside to work the ground for planting so new growth can spring forth. It’s a refreshing time.
Forgiveness is like that! Many times the bitterness of our hearts is like winter—icy cold, with fierce blizzard winds whipping around and irritating our minds and emotions. Lam. 3: 19- 20 explains it this way: “I remember my affliction [hurt, offense, or grievance] and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me.” When we ‘meditate’ or ‘focus’ on our hurts or negative circumstances the bitterness grows and often consumes us. This is the picture Jeremiah was describing. And the Psalmist laments: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” Ever ask that question? I have.
But Jeremiah changes His focus in verse 21-25 of Lamentations: “Yet I dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is HIS faithfulness; HIS mercies begin afresh every day. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in HIM!’ The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for HIM and seek HIM.”
And what is our inheritance? When we receive Him we receive His life in exchange for our old life. He forgives us and cleans up our sinful lives. He gives us a fresh start—like spring!
Jesus says in Matthew 6: 14, 15: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.” What a frightening truth! If I do not choose to forgive someone who sins against me—if I focus on that offense—then I cannot enjoy the forgiveness God offers to me!!! I remain in my ‘downcast’ condition and my focus is on myself and my hurt or offense.
Someone has described the bitterness that comes from unforgiveness as like taking poison and expecting the other person to die. On the positive side another said, that “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet leaves on the heel that crushes it.”
Since a person is never more God-like than when he/she forgives, let’s look at offenses this way. God wants us to be like Jesus; so let’s ask Him to let us see our hurt from His perspective. Believing that ‘He makes all things work together for good to those who love Him…’, then the offense or hurt is allowed from His heart of love for us; giving us the opportunity to forgive another person and to become more Christ-like in the process. We free the other person, but we free ourselves as well to enjoy “…His mercies that begin afresh every day!”
