That Which Was Lost

In a roundabout way, I’ve been thinking a lot about forgiveness this week. Webster’s defines the word forgive as a transitive verb meaning “to give up resentment of or claim to requital for”. The second definition provided is given as follows: to cease to feel resentment against (an offender). I was thinking of persons I have wronged in my life, (I do that on occasion) in an attempt to provide a repayment in kind to each as part of my bucket list of things to do during the time I have left on this earth. In an instance of such, I would be the one seeking forgiveness from said persons. However, I seem to have run into a few snags in the plans I have made in this area which I didn’t consider when I first began filling in the various names on my list.

What does forgiveness cost? Is it generic? If I merely talked about someone behind their back and they did not know about it, what is the penance required from me in that situation? Especially if it actually provided no real damage to them despite my slanderous performance. Of course, it was wrong for me to do so in the first place, and with forgiveness being essential to my list, it is something that must be taken care of. The gist of which leads me back to the actual cost required as I’ve previously stated.

On the other hand, I do have an ex-wife and a few ex-friends I’ve accrued during my lifetime, and in most cases, both they and I have one-upped each other in the area of heinous deeds and misdeeds. As a Christian, I’d like to seek forgiveness in those areas as well. I’m betting that in those situations, the price of removing ‘resentment or claim to a requital for’ would be high indeed. The act of forgiveness is fraught with details and technicalities that can be hard to fathom when you get down to the area of cost and/or penance. Also, I have been on the receiving end of apologies in the past, and I know how the human mind responds to such. I can think of times when someone apologized to me and I accepted their apology, but in the back of my mind my forgiveness was not exactly pure. It was more along the lines of “I forgive you, but I’m gonna be watching you in the meantime.” Maybe the price they paid for my forgiveness was either not the right one or it wasn’t enough – to me. Or quite possibly, the price was beyond what they could actually pay, even if they were sincere. This in itself leads me back to the costs required for forgiveness.

Maybe the feddle gubmunt can come up with a law in this area, you know, form a committee and add a little bureaucracy into the area of personal apologies. If I lie to someone, then based on the strength of that lie I will need to pay x amount of dollars in order to be absolutely forgiven by the offended party; the sum to be based upon the new laws they would put in place. If I broke someone’s heart, the price could steadily ramp up. Using someone for personal gain? Again, the price mounts.

Nah, I can see where it would end up going – we’d need more lawyers than we already have and the claims would be endless from those seeking forgiveness from parties that may have their own axe to grind, only this time the offended would have the system behind them to utilize in exploiting the offender. And there would be no guarantee of a transfer of actual forgiveness in the litigation of the laws.

I’m just looking for a good, fair, honest price to pay here. Man seeking forgiveness, ready and willing to pay whatever price necessary to secure it.

I’m hoping by now you have figured out that most of this is tongue-in-cheek. But the problem is serious, and deserves careful thought from all of us. Forgiveness cannot be purchased, because far too often the price is too high or worse; the chance for redemption was lost a long time ago. Forgiveness must be given, and in many ways it is the ultimate gift one can give or receive. If it is not given or received as a gift, then in most instances it is simply lost.

The greatest example of forgiveness is Jesus on a cruel, painful, bloody cross, paying the penalty for our sin. Passed down to us from Adam like a bad, hereditary gene is a sinful nature acquired by mankind in the Garden of Eden, and it is something we must each take care of in order to make ourselves right with G_d. Without forgiveness for sin, we have no recourse. We miss out on eternity; we also miss out on the special place He has prepared for us. We can never have peace with G_d without forgiveness. What does our sin cost us? Everything.

What will forgiveness from sin cost us? Nothing. By our own methods and devices, it is far too late for forgiveness. We’ve missed the mark and we didn’t make the grade. We are lost, adrift in a sea of our own failures and transgressions against what G_d originally designed us to be. But Jesus tells us plainly in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

It does not matter what you have done. Maybe you’ve broken all Ten Commandments repeatedly and quite possibly set a world record for doing so. Maybe you’re a good person and have broken only a few. In either instance and all points in between, forgiveness is readily available and it is free. Jesus is actively seeking you out to save you with an offer of the best gift you could ever hope to receive – the gift of forgiveness. Best of all, the forgiveness He offers is a pure, unadulterated forgiveness – one that will last throughout eternity.

P.S. Get yours today!