Humility And Forgiveness

Humility seems to be a theme that God has put on my heart lately. Could it be because I am so helplessly prideful? Perhaps. I'm also beginning to see more clearly the connection between humility and forgiveness. One has to humble oneself, I think, in order to be able to truly forgive. I think of all of the times that someone betrayed me or disrespected me and, if I wasn't thinking of some way to get them back, I was at least planning to give them "the cold shoulder" and let them know that, for me, they don't even exist. All I could think about was how badly they had wronged me, how I had done nothing to deserve such treatment by them. Now think of God, the sole Creator of everything that exists, including our own pitiful little selves, and despite all that He has given us, we continue to disrespect Him, to betray Him, to ignore Him, to give Him "the cold shoulder", and to curse Him. If I were God, I probably would have already gone on a rampage and wiped out the earth several times over in my fury that these little..... little.... creatures made from the dirt on the ground, could even DARE to defy me and show such disrespect for me.

But I'm not God. And thankfully our God is radically different from me. Our God actually shows love and patience to these whiny, ungrateful betrayers. Not only that, our God CHOSE to humble Himself and come down from heaven as fully and completely one of us, to live a life of challenges, temptations and hardships just like our own, to LET His own creations beat Him, spit upon Him and nail Him to a cross, and after all that to STILL say "Forgive them.." Where I would have been beating people over the head with that cross, Jesus was using it to forgive them. And He didn't just do it for His friends, those who loved Him. He gave His life for those who were His enemies too. Un--believe---able... Jesus, who was fully God while still being fully human, could have said, "Ok, enough of this. I tried to be one with you. I tried to show you the way, but you aren't listening. I AM GOD PEOPLE AND MY WILL IS GOING TO BE DONE!!!!" But that's not how Jesus works, that's how this world works. Jesus gave us the greatest lesson in humility that has ever existed.

I've seen, heard of and experienced numerous examples over the past weeks of hard-to-forgive situations: ungrateful and self-centered children, black sheep siblings who took wrongful advantages and compromised their family's trust, staff who've taken their employer's teaching and resources and started their own company down the street, co-workers who take credit for your work, ex-spouses who've twisted truth to turn the children against you, etc.. It's easy to become cynical, unloving, untrusting, and hateful in these circumstances. We feel justified in retaliating or complaining about how badly we've been treated. But what does Jesus tell us to do?

In Genesis 50:21, after being almost killed, betrayed and sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph, now in a position of authority over them, forgave his brothers and he "reassured them and spoke kindly to them". In Exodus 32:32, after leading the Israelites out of slavery, putting his own life at risk, the Israelites ignore Moses commands from God and create/worship their own idols. Instead of ditching them, Moses pleads with God to forgive the people and even offers to give up his own place in the Book of Life if God will only forgive the people and give them another chance. In Luke 15, Jesus tells us about the son who demanded his inheritance before his father had even passed away and then proceeded to go out and squander it all on gluttonous and trivial pursuits. When the son ran out of money and came slinking back to his father in shame and embarassment, the father did not turn him away, but instead embraced him in love and threw a party for him. In Matthew 6:15, Jesus tells us that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us. In Matthew 18:22, Jesus tells us not only to forgive but to keep on forgiving over and over ("....from your heart" Matthew 18:35), not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!!! In Luke 6:37, Jesus tells us "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven". In Colossians 3:13 we are told to "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Does it get any clearer? Over and over Jesus tells us to forgive, to turn the other cheek, to go two miles if asked to go a mile, to give both my hat and my coat if asked for my hat. What keeps us from obeying is pride, ego, arrogance, greed, and lack of humility. I like to read Romans 12 over and over again as a reminder. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:14); and "Do not repay anyone evil for evil." (Romans 12:17); and "Do not take revenge...... On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." (Romans 12:19-20)

Everyone, no matter how seemingly vile, despicable, and far from God, deserves salvation and forgiveness. No matter how poorly I feel I have been treated, my oppressor deserves my love and forgiveness, that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. I know from experience that retaliation doesn't work. Righteous indignation doesn't work. Whining and complaining on my blog doesn't work. Only love and forgiveness that comes from a heart focused on Jesus works. It confounds and astounds those who persecute us. And ultimately, it has the power to transform. I cannot truly forgive though as long as I am wallowing in my pride, my justifications, my need to be right, or my desire to win. It takes a humble heart to forgive and really mean it.