One of the hindrances to a personal sense of well-being is the manner in which we tend to deal with those who hurt us.
It is not uncommon for people to carry heavy burdens of unresolved bitterness toward employers, fellow-employees, neighbours and family members for various kinds of mistreatment.
While others may lack sympathy in such circumstances true victims of abuse feel overwhelmed with a deep sense of loss and inner pain. Their souls naturally cry out for revenge, for compensation, and for some sense of justice.
It's important for us not to discount the pain of those who feel they have been mistreated. But how can anyone feel adequately compensated for the injustices that they
suffer?
The most common means of compensation for damages sustained is to take up the matter before the law.
This simply proves that we all share a common sense of moral responsibility and accountability. Our justice system works on the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
It seems a proper appreciation of forgiveness begins with this intuitive sense of the moral responsibility that we all share. It is a fact of life that offenses, whatever their
nature, must be compensated.
Civil liberty requires legal justice. But there is also a time for forgiveness. The difference in forgiveness is that the victim is willing to bear the cost of someone else's offense. Obviously this is a difficult exercise apart from God's special help.
Forgiveness is easier when one is able to trust God for compensation concerning the offense that another has caused. Only God is able to adequately provide for what one has lost in a personal injustice. He is able to deal justly with the perpetrator, in time, by his own means.
And he can ultimately compensate for the loss in ways that are even better than we might imagine. But such an attitude requires faith and trust.
Such trust is not ill-founded. It is based on the same means by which God forgives us for our offense against him.
The good news of the Christian message is that though we all stand condemned before God regarding our sin against him, he took it upon himself to pay for our moral
disobedience.
This was accomplished through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ when he died on a Roman cross so many years ago.
In the death of Jesus, God offers us forgiveness for the penalty of our sin. And because he did that for us, we can trust God to help us do it toward those who hurt us.
So, forgiveness is possible when a person chooses to unload the burden of an offense on Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation, however, is another matter. It means a relationship is restored. This can only happen when the offender is willing to acknowledge the offense and the
victim chooses to forgive that person.
