To Err Is Human; To Forgive Divine Series

Clara Barton was the American heroine who founded the Red Cross. Once a friend reminded her of a vicious deed someone had done to her years before. Clara Barton acted as if she had never even heard of the painful incident. Her friend asked, “Don’t you remember it?” Clara Barton replied, “No, I distinctly remember choosing to forget it.”

When the first missionaries to the Eskimos were learning to translate their language, they discovered the Eskimo word for “forgive” was a multi-word phrase: “issumagijoujungnainermik.” It literally means “not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.” That’s what forgiveness is–it’s not forgetting–it’s choosing not to let the thoughts of that harmful person or their harmful deed consume your thinking.

One of the most liberating things you can do for yourself is to forgive someone, to release them. Go ahead. Apply that principle to the person or situation troubling you. Make a choice to let it go, and release them. The great Baptist preacher from London, Charles Spurgeon, once wrote: “Forgive and let it go. When you bury a mad dog, don’t leave his tail above the ground.” That’s what forgiveness is; you bury the deed in your subconscious and refuse to go digging for it.

3. FORGIVENESS IS NOT CHEAP—BUT IT’S BETTER THAN REVENGE

In Matthew 18 Jesus tells the parable of a manager who owed his boss several million dollars. The manager begged his boss to forgive his debt, and the boss agreed. But then the forgiven manager went out and met a guy who owed him $10. The man who had just been forgiven a multi-million dollar debt refused to forgive this man who owed him $10! He grabbed him by the throat and threatened him, and then he had him thrown in jail. When the Big Boss heard about the manager’s behavior, he had him thrown into jail until he could pay off the millions he owed. The lesson there is obvious. Because God has forgiven us of a debt we could never pay, we should be willing to forgive others, because nobody is as indebted to us as we are to God. But we also see forgiveness costs something. That forgiveness cost the boss several million dollars. God’s forgiveness is free—but it’s not cheap. In order to purchase our pardon, Jesus paid with the gold of His blood, and the silver of His tears.

It always costs something to forgive. If someone borrowed $1,000 from you and you realize you’ll never see it again, it costs you at least $1,000 to forgive them. When you forgive someone, it costs you, too. But the cost is much less than the price of revenge. You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker that says: I DON’T GET MAD; I GET EVEN. It is our nature to seek revenge. You could say, “To err is human; and to seek revenge is too.” In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare has Shylock ask several human questions: “If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? If you wrong us shall we not seek revenge?” (“Merchant of Venice” III:1)

Sadly, there are people who are so full of hatred and animosity they will use every opportunity to hurt others. Even in death, some people try to extract revenge. Here are two actual bequests from the wills of two people who wanted to get even: One woman stipulated in her will that “$1.00 from my estate be invested and the interest given to my husband as evidence of my estimate of his worth.” Ouch! That’s low. Another woman left this directive in her will: “to my estranged husband I leave just enough money to enable him to buy a rope to hang himself.”