In
recent days, three loved ones, severely wounded by another’s sins in
unconnected circumstances, began the difficult journey toward forgiveness. With
bruised, battered, and bleeding hearts, they crawled from the Pit of Shock only
to be greeted by the raging Storm of Anger. In time, the whirling fury calmed
as they trudged day after day through the Valley of Sorrow and Suffering until
each path abruptly ended at the foot of Mt. Forgiveness. The steep precipice
appears daunting, and the ascent seems impossible.
In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers wrote:
"God
does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in
the
death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace
of
God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that
enables
the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so.
It
is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love…The
love
of God means Calvary – nothing less! The love of God is spelled out
on
the CROSS ad nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive
me
is the CROSS of CHRIST."
And the only basis for which we can
forgive others is through the CHRIST of the CROSS. I urge you, sisters and
brothers, stay NOT in the Valley of Sorrow and Suffering, take the hand of
Jesus and climb Mt. Forgiveness – a place of liberty and healing.
“In (Jesus) we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His
grace.” (Eph.1:7 NASB)
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger
and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice. Be kind to one
another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has
forgiven you!” (Eph. 4:31-31 NASB)
Read more...
