A Forgiving Death

   We have all had to do it at one point or another in our life: forgive. Maybe a stranger stepped on your foot. Maybe a friend had to cancel on you. Or, maybe a family member betrayed you. Whatever the case, forgiveness is called for. We all expect to be forgiven yet we all know that forgiveness is not an easy thing to do at times.
   Why is it so hard to forgive? Ann Voskamp has an answer in her book The Broken Way. She says: "NO one gets to forgiveness unless something else dies. There always has to be some kind of death for there to be any kind of forgiveness." The ultimate example of forgiveness is Jesus. He had to die in order to forgive our sins.
   Now, you may be asking, “what has to die when I forgive someone?” The answer is typically your pride. Let's say that someone has lied to you, not just once but many times. He promised he would never do it again but he continued to do it. According to the world's standards, you have every right to stop forgiving this person. You could hold a grudge and never speak to him again. But, according to God's standards, do you have a right?
   In Matthew 18:21-35 we read about a forgiving master and an unforgiving servant. The master had a right to throw his servant in jail because the servant would NEVER be able to pay off his debt. It just wasn't plausible that during the servant's life he'd be able to pay 100 bags of gold off. The master was merciful and forgave the debt. The servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him 100 pieces of silver. The servant threw his fellow servant in jail because he could not pay his debt. All this servant had to do was forgive because he was forgiven. He could've let go of his pride and just said it was "okay, you don't have to pay." But, the servant wanted what he deserved. Then the servant got what he truly did deserve; he was thrown in jail and the key was thrown away.
   We have been forgiven so much. God has every right to say, "you have sinned too many times. You cannot come to heaven." But, he doesn't say that. The creator of the universe has every right to be prideful and give up on us but he doesn't. If he is our ultimate example, then why can't we put away our pride and forgive others just like he does?
   Ann Voskamp goes on to say: it is "Never the cross you carry, but your resistance to the cross, that makes it a burden." We can push back and pull back and choose not to forgive others. But, when we don't forgive, we are only hurting ourselves. We all have a cross to carry. It could be a situation, a problem that keeps happening, a sin, etc. And, if you remember correctly, crosses are heavy. Jesus needed help carrying his cross because he was so beat up. He has experience carrying crosses. It is very difficult for us to carry the cross on our own. We can ask Jesus for help carrying our cross. We can ask him to help us forgive that person who wronged us. Then, our burden becomes lighter.
   So, do you have anyone you need to forgive? Are you going to ask Jesus to help you carry your burdens? Will you choose to die to pride in order to forgive others?
   Image from here.