What is the antidote to having a poisoned view of someone, can anything be done? I'm really not sure. This is what I have been reflecting on for the past few days. Preventing the poisoning is realistic (see my last post), but what to do after it happens is sketchier to me. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!
It takes a truly awesome amount of inner fortitude to choose to forgive someone of their past wrongs and then treat them as worthy of some level of respect again afterwards. What does it take to do this? Powerful motivation? I am reminded of a story I read somewhere (Phillip Yancey?) about Polish Christian leaders meeting with German Christian leaders after one of the major World Wars. The Polish Christians has suffered horrendously at the hands of the Germans and although the Poles agreed to meet with their German counterparts they told them they could not honestly forgive them for the atrocities that were perpetrated. The meeting was rather tense and at the end someone suggested that the two parties pray the Lord's prayer together. When they got to this part:
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us"
the Poles stopped praying. After several minutes of silence, the Polish Christians met together and discussed. Finally, they returned to the Germans and told them that they were in error; they could not honestly pray the Lord's Prayer and harbor unforgiveness against the Germans. Tears were shed as forgiveness and reconciliation began that day.
Perhaps God's grace is the antidote for a poisoned heart and mind? Forgiveness (not forgetting) is not optional for Christ-followers and maybe we need to be reminded of that sometimes. As my friend Dwight used to quote "Forgiveness is setting someone free and realizing it was you."
May Light increase!
Testing
3 weeks ago
No comments:
Post a Comment