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| He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 |
The answer is found in our human nature. Paul addresses this best in Romans 7:25b when he says, " . . . I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." I'm thinking that if Paul, an apostle of Christ and the author of at least thirteen New Testament writings struggled against sin and imperfection then we'll probably find it at least a little difficult to fully embrace the notion of "forgiveness" from time to time!
Take a look at the first half of the same verse, "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" The answer can only be found in Christ. It is a human impossibility to do it on our own. We have to learn to allow God to work in us and through us. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", Phillipians 4:13. Even then we won't always get it right! Forgiveness and forgiving is a continual process of reconciliation and will always be God that makes it possible.
Whenever I think about forgiveness I tend to be drawn to the example of Christ's life and work. For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Sin entered the world through one man - Adam. Sin became a cancer within humanity's spiritual DNA and has been passed on to every man, woman and child ever since. Our righteous and holy God judged creation with the plague of death as a result yet though his mercy and grace sent his own Son to die in our places. I'm sure we all know the story of gospel but, what about the events that led to Christ's brutal death on that cross?
Consider Jesus. God born into humanity through human flesh yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). To the world, he was an outcast from the beginning - born seemingly as the illegitimate child of Mary and made the butt of jokes, songs and mockery. Even his own half brothers and sisters didn't fully accept him as their own (John 1:11).
As he grew up, his calling and purpose began to come into focus. His purpose was to bring reconciliation between God and man. The only way that this could be accomplished was through a perfect sacrifice - a judgement of death and destruction of sin in his own body. He would be that sacrifice for a world that despised him.
Jesus was rejected, feared and hated from birth. Herod tried to kill him to protect his authority. The Jews, the very people that God sent him to save, plotted to murder him more than once. The Scriptures teach us that the crowds pressed against him so hard that nearly crushed him. These people weren't looking to befriend Jesus. They were looking for entertainment and to see what he might do for them. Very few of the people that he healed and fed and loved stuck around long after their own selfish desires were satisfied.
Still others demanded a king - not because they loved him but, because they wanted him to fight for their freedom against the Roman empire. Religious leaders either threatened him or were ashamed to be seen with him. Even one of his own disciples plotted against his life. In the end, they called out to Pilot, "Crucify him!"
On the cross, soldiers taunted him and criminals condemned to the same fate mocked him. Worse yet, God himself rejected him as he carried the penalty for "our" sins!
Jesus' earthly life was certainly one of pain and suffering from start to finish. Isaiah 53:3 describes our Lord's life this way - "He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care." Why would he (God in the flesh, the Creator of mankind) subject himself to fate? Because if he hadn't . . . that punishment would have been ours to bear! Eternally bound by the grip of sin and death. Thank God that Jesus embraced forgiveness over wrath.
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