One of the difficult things about unity is that it takes more than one person to make it happen. I can desire unity all I want but if those with whom I wish to be unified want nothing to do with me, then I find myself alone and divided. Sometimes, though, we choose this place of division and dischord for ourselves. A wrong, real or perceived, is done against us and we harbor bitterness or indifference or simply feel unwelcome in the presence of the person who has wronged us.
While we shouldn't minimize the pain that has been caused us, we must take the first step towards healing both ourselves and that relationship. Jesus' prescriptin for healing is given in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." This is a vital portion of the Lord's Prayer for two reasons:
- It acknowledges our debt to God and our need for forgiveness
- It gives us the implicit command to forgive those who are in our debt (or trespassed/sinned against us)
Our debt to God is unpayable. We have sinned against Him and the wrongs we do are first and foremost against Him. We humble ourselves to ask for forgiveness and "He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) It seems, though, that this forgiveness is conditional. The word "AS" seems to indicate that we are asking God to do something AS we do it. Further indication that this is the case comes later in Matthew 18:21-35, the parable of the unmerciful servant. The parable ends quite harshly:
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (32-35)
I have to admit this is one of the verses that I would like to play down. We want to make God softer than He is. There is no way we can deny his immeasurable love - after all, in the parable the master cancelled a very large debt. Yet, He expects something from us as well - that the forgiveness He gave us changes our hearts and we are able to forgive in turn. The servant in the parable was greedy and unwaivering, unwilling to forgive a small debt, though his debt, several thousand times as large had been forgiven.
To me, this says that God expects not only that we be forgiven, but that we repent as well. I think this also goes to a bigger question: Why do we want to be forgiven? The servant was selfish, wanting only to be kept from prison and out of debt. Once safe, he remained unchanged and immediately demanded payment from his debtor. I think this is why I've always had a problem with the "fire insurance" line of evangelism. God isn't selling insurance, He wants His sons and daughters back in His home.
Softer Heart = Better Unity
What does this have to do with unity? Our command is to forgive those who have sinned against us. If we are unable to do that, there is no way we can come to a place of unity. Forgiveness is no guarantee of unity, but it is most certainly a first step. When we go from raised fists to open arms we are half way there.
Forgiveness does another thing - it softens our hearts. When our hearts are hardened towards our brothers and sisters it tends to also harden towards our Father. Forgiveness opens the door not only to other people, it also opens the door to God. When God is allowed to work in us and through us, great things happen! It is better to have God working WITH you than ON you (although He is most certainly doing both.)
As always, there is more to say than I have time for, but hopefully this gets us going in some right directions.
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