God has given our pastor, Howie Malone, a gift for using word pictures to cement important Biblical truths. For example, when speaking of forgiveness, he said it’s important to get in the habit of “burying our offenses.” He explained it like this (my paraphrase):
If your pet died you wouldn’t leave it above ground to decompose. You’d put it in a shoebox and bury it in the backyard. You would not dig it up and cuddle with the corpse just because you missed poor Fido? Ewwww!!! Of course, you wouldn’t! Well, when someone offends you it’s ALSO much healthier to bury it. Place that offense in a mental shoebox and bury it. Then, when you have future engagements with the offender, learn to resist the temptation to go out to the back yard and dig-up that rotten offense. You buried it for a really good reason and—it’s unhealthy to play with corpses—right?
But it’s really, really hard to keep those offenses buried—isn’t it?
You might have to see that person everyday and if they offend you again, you’d really like to run out and dig up that offense so you can double-justify unforgiveness—right? But remember—that offense is rotten—and to hold it close will contaminate your heart. Moldy bitterness will thrive like cancer. Sometimes offenses are easier to forgive because we recognize that the offender is immature. But, there are times when the offense is so serious and our soul is so weak that it cuts like a knife and we seem helpless to forgive.
At this point, we need God to intervene and help us forgive.
During the ministry of Jesus, He would often tell people “your sins are forgiven,” but —when He was suffering pain beyond what we can comprehend—He called on His Father to forgive. Think about the facts surrounding Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus had been through 24 hours of the worst torture known to man. He had been so badly beaten that His appearance was disfigured to the point He didn’t even resemble a human being. (Isaiah 52:14) All of his close friends, the religious leaders, most of His family, and all of His followers had—abandoned Him as He hung on the cross to save THEM from THEIR sins. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled that day:
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:3-5
As Jesus was hanging on the cross and the Roman soldiers were gambling for His clothes, He didn’t say “your sins are forgiven;” rather, He prayed:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Luke 23:34
In His greatest time of suffering, our sweet Savior—100% human, yet 100% God—engaged His Father’s power to forgive. We will never have to suffer like Jesus did. We will never be abandoned like He was. And we have never been sinned against like He was. Instead—we are promised an eternal family and our greatest friendship in Him. He has forgiven us “as far as the east is from the west,” and thus, we are enabled to forgive each other. (Psalms 103:12) Yes, sometimes it’s really difficult to forget; but—by the grace of God, we have the power to forgive every offense!
When we engage God’s powerful forgiveness, we can FORGET the offenses of others against us.
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