The wisdom of life is in forgiveness. There is wisdom in living this gospel imperative. That is, in forgiving a person—in releasing a debtor from obligation to repay—just as God has done for us all in Jesus—we follow the way of God.
Christians promise to follow Jesus at salvation,
His example, His life, His death,
and because we are forgiven,
ours is a life of repentance.
Each Christian’s journey is their own before God.
It is not for a Christian to be bothered
about what another person ‘gets away’ with.
Everyone is SEEN by God.
Nobody ‘gets away’ with anything.
Forgiveness brings and breeds peace—in other words, RELEASE and LIFE, for all concerned. Forgiveness rebuilds upon what appeared to be destroyed. It is the redemptive power of God.
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Forgiveness is centrally about unity, and where forgiveness genuinely occurs as deeply relational interaction, unity is inevitable.
Forgiveness is reconciliation which is unity, or reunification.
Forgiveness is about restoring what was broken.
Forgiveness is about unifying what was divided.
From eternity to eternity,
that is, from before creation through to consummation,
God has been empowering humanity to live,
to love, to peace, to unity, to wholeness.
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God is about unity, just as God is indeed inherent unity.
THE EPITOME OF UNITY
Father, Son, Holy Spirit is a unity—the unity of the Trinity. Triune God is tri-unity. There is no closer or better unity. The Godhead three-in-one is the quintessence of unity upon which there is NO division.
This is the unity with which we humans crave, that oneness of self that forever seems to evade us.
Holiness is the unity of utter goodness,
the absolute antithesis of evil,
not merely of deed but of concept.
But holiness is not simply the unity of goodness;
it is unity itself, the perfection of the good.
There is a unity in the concept of forgiveness.
What is forgiven is no longer retractable.
What is forgiven is beyond judgement.
What is forgiven is ascribed as good.
What is forgiven is settled.
Forgiveness is unity of goodness.
In practical terms,
what God has done in Jesus is
forgiveness, the unity of God
for the redemption of the world
for all eternity.
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FORGIVENESS PROMOTES UNITY
Forgiveness is inspired by and produces unity. Seeing the truth of one’s own contribution to conflict, a person forgives even as they are active in seeking to be forgiven. But it takes honesty to do that, and humility underpins it. A person’s humility puts what is right overall above their own comfort and success or even what appears to be right in their own eyes.
Their conscience overrides their sinful pride that would allow the overlooking of the truth.
But to be honest, we must be prepared
to allow God to search OUR heart.
A condition of forgiveness is to be honest enough
to get the log out of our own eye.
This is the internal locus of control embodied,
empowered for acknowledging our own contribution.
See how owning our contribution to conflict,
which is our need to forgive or be forgiven,
is about our freedom and retention
of our empowerment?
Once we have been honest, and we acknowledge that we must forgive and seek to be forgiven, we see the power that is in forgiveness, the power that promotes and even predestines unity. And we find God is in our midst and healing is at hand.
THE MECHANICS OF UNITY AND FORGIVENESS
Unity is of God and God is unity. Indeed, unity is goodness, especially when people create and maintain unity through sacrificing themselves for each other.
The maintenance of love presumes forgiveness
because in human terms love needs maintenance.
Without forgiveness, unity is eventually
challenged, threatened, torn asunder.
When conflict strikes,
and it strikes all relationships,
forgiveness is THE hope for relational repair.
Forgiveness is the reset that is needed to
restore relationships impacted by conflict.
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EMULATE THE UNITY IN GOD AND THE WORLD SEES
These are the words of Jesus relating to the unity in God that is also to be reflected in God’s people—a unity that the world will notice when it sees it:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
—John 17:20-23 (NIV)
In these four verses above from John, we find Jesus connecting the unity in God with the love and peace possible from such unity to transform the world. The evangelistic thread connecting the love of disciples that is a witness to a love-craving world.
Notice how in John chapters 13 to 17—one quarter of John’s gospel—Jesus connects the concepts of the “new command” to “love one another” with the world acknowledging the power of such love. The importance of this one night’s teaching is emphasised in how much of John’s gospel is devoted to it. That’s one one-thousandth of Jesus’ ministry in time (one night in contrast to three years) comprising 25 percent of one disciple’s account of Jesus’ life.
25 percent of one disciple’s account of Jesus’ life
is devoted to the message of unity and forgiveness.
One one-thousandth of Jesus’ ministry—the final night,
the summation of everything that Jesus stands for.
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Put in the simplest of ways,
when Christians forgive one another,
they herald a power the world does not know,
and the world notices the transcendence of this love.
The world is drawn to this Jesus love.
When Christians love one another,
the world sees Jesus
because forgiveness is of God.
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INTEGRATING FORGIVENESS AND UNITY
When we think about the conjoining of two allied concepts—forgiveness and unity—both concepts have their origin in God. Both concepts represent and propagate peace. Both concepts are relatively foreign to this world because the world thrives on competition and division.
The evidence of such division
is in each of our hearts—without God.
If we are honest.
Unless we go to God, the God of unity, we cannot find what we need to forgive. This is because we need to replace something deep within us with something deep within God.
The hope of the world beyond its inherent divisiveness is a unity that requires all persons to lose a part of themselves to give toward the common cause. The only way we prosper is that we can suffer a little so that the common cause for good can be advanced, strived for, achieved.
We know this is true when
we honestly face our own hearts.
When we are honest,
we acknowledge that the only time
we strive for peace, for unity, for forgiveness
is when we see things as God sees them.
Having the capacity for good and for evil,
we look to the unity in God as a plumbline
for the unity our relationships need.
Forgiveness and unity will heal the soul.
These are the purposes of life.
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