The Heart Of The Matter
“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” Luke 17:3b-4
I’m certain that at some point I have written that music I listened to when I was younger is so much better now because the words have added meaning and value. For example, I was a Don Henley fan as a teen. Actually, I was fan before I knew who he was, which was once the lead singer of the rock band The Eagles. At any rate, there were so many songs that I liked of his, but one of them, called The Heart Of The Matter, grew on me as I got older. It’s about a man whose girlfriend has split up with him. The chorus of it for those of you who don’t know goes like this:
I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore
This song wore on me as I listened to a few sermons this week that talked about sin. A point from one of them really stuck with me. The pastor spoke about a person whose sin had separated him from God and he did not want to live anymore because he knew he had failed to meet God’s expectation. The pastor reminded him that it was not his sin that meant he was unworthy. In fact, it was his sin that showed how prized a possession he was to God. As I heard that, it reminded me a bit of my own story of being born again and how God had used my failures to help others. But had I not repented for all of my wrongdoings, I would have never been able to truly feel the power of God’s grace. Now you won’t hear me profess that Don Henley’s songs should be sung at Sunday church worship services, but for this one chorus, he got something right. It was about forgiveness.
Forgiveness empowers us as believers. In reading these verses of Luke, it took on a different meaning for me this past week. My focus previously had been on trying to forgive someone who I felt had done me wrong. However, forgiveness is just the act. The impact is not just on the person forgiven. It is equally if not more on the forgiver. What I missed in my prior understanding of these verses was the opportunity forgiveness presents to bring us closer in our relationship with God. For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, it is the son who sought forgiveness. However, note the father’s reaction. It says, “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20) It was the father, who was jubilant and threw a feast in his son’s honor, filled with love and compassion. He could have been resentful much like the prodigal son’s brother but chose dare I say a better path. Jesus understood the impact of forgiveness on those who forgive because to not forgive holds within us some form of anger, bitterness, resentment, hatred, or some combination of these emotions. God’s love contains none of those things. Non-believers might say, “Kent, doesn’t God have anger when He killed people? Gotcha, right?” In a word, no. They omit the simple fact that Jesus Christ interceded on our behalf because we could never meet that standard God put before us. Thus, His sacrifice is a point of not only the depth of God’s love but also this whole devotion: forgiveness.
Our ability to forgive is a true signal of our own spiritual growth. Whether it be days, week, months, or even years, failing to forgive even one transgression does not have as great an impact on those we choose not to forgive as it does on ourselves. This is where Don Henley, who you all should now see as the great prophet (yes, I’m kidding 😊), once again hits the nail on the head: forgiveness, even if the person you forgive doesn’t care. It’s not about them. It’s about our relationship with Jesus Christ and building a closer bond with Him. Let us discard those old feelings of bitterness, and embrace that which Jesus is pointing out here. Learn to forgive those who have done us wrong. Who have you failed to forgive? Where in your relationship with God can you grow through the power of forgiveness?” My prayer is that we trust in the teaching of Jesus and learn to forgive because that is the heart of the matter. Amen.
Written by Kent Williams for The Hope Fellowship