Everything Always No Matter What

From Chapter 10, “Forgiving Impossible Things,” p. 242. The following four keys are worth considering to successfully fulfill the requirement to forgive the things we may feel are impossible to forgive. Key 1. Forgiving impossible things begins with seeking God’s forgiveness for the person who has hurt you. Start here: In Luke 23:34, Jesus prays from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” Think about what Jesus was accomplishing here. “Father forgive them” was Jesus bypassing the pain He was experiencing in order to bring humanity before His Father for their forgiveness. Jesus wasn’t as concerned with their sin against Him as He was with their eternal standing before God. His focus was not swayed by the tragedy of the injustice inflicted upon Him or their level of offense against Him. Jesus understood His assignment. He sees the world through different eyes than we often do. His prayer exposes His unwavering eternal perspective while in the highest level of pain. While nailed to the cross, Jesus reached with this prayer to span the gap humanity had created between ourselves and God, for the purpose of bringing us back into a right standing with God. We often focus so much on our own pain that we cannot see that the greater tragedy is that the person sinning against us is also sinning against God. Because God is the authority who forbids us from sinning against one another, when I lie, I am sinning against the person I am lying to and against the God who commands me not to lie. It is important to recognize that, while I may be in pain from someone’s sin against me, the person causing the pain is likely in a more compromised place spiritually for their sin against God than I am for their sin against me. The only way for me to become more compromised spiritually than the person sinning against me is for me to retaliate or withhold forgiveness. When my gut response to someone hurting me is to immediately retaliate, as if they’ve just scored a point and I need to get even, it is proof that I am blind to the spiritual reality that their sin sets them back, not ahead. If I can see this, I can release the need to “get even” by tearing down and instead, get even by lifting up, as Jesus did. The sins of others affect me in the physical while affecting them in the spiritual. This prayer that Jesus prayed was not only for those crying out, “Crucify Him,” or nailing spikes through His hands; it was for all of us who would eventually be in desperate need of forgiveness. Partnering with Jesus, our advocate. As our advocate (1 John 2:1–2), Jesus goes before God as a type of lawyer, or attorney, to secure our forgiveness. The reason He is always successful, and we never have to worry about Him losing our case before God, is because, not only does He plead our cause as the Son of the Judge, He also took our sentencing upon Himself. Here, in this moment from the cross, is where Jesus began His ministry of advocating for our freedom. He did not wait to begin this ministry until after the pain had subsided. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those killing him while they were actively killing Him. This helps to continue answering the question of when we should start the process of forgiving. When we forgive as Jesus did, praying “Father forgive them,” while still in a state of active suffering, we partner with Jesus as advocates for those who have sinned against us. It’s like being called to court after someone who has assaulted you has been apprehended and choosing to play the part of their lawyer instead of their victim. We, like Jesus, have the ability to be supernaturally kind while still in the midst of our own pain. Partnering with the accuser. When we resist forgiveness and instead embrace accusation against those who have hurt us, we are actually partnering with Satan, “the accuser” (Revelation 12:10), hoping our brothers and sisters pay the highest price for their sins while caring nothing for their compromised standing before God. People will attempt to sidestep the high standard the Bible sets for forgiveness by claiming, “We can’t be expected to operate at the level that Jesus did; we’re only human!” People say this kind of thing to excuse themselves from doing difficult things—thus also exempting themselves from the rewards—forgetting that Jesus did the things that He did intentionally, as an example for us (1 Peter 2:21). He did these things to enable us to live in freedom and blessing. Of course, this is all very difficult, but the alternative is allowing our excuses to leave us in bondage. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus teaches, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Jesus didn’t only command this; He lived it in the hardest and last few moments of His life. There is no better way to love your enemy than to concern yourself more with their eternity than with the pain they’ve brought into your present by praying for their pardon and freedom before God. When the Bible talks about God’s eyes searching “to and fro, throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9), I wonder if these are the kinds of people He is looking for, whose loyalty takes on this kind of shape—a tangible display of love that extends even to their enemies—people whose love is driven by an eternal perspective.