Amnesia?

written by Stephan Joubert

C.S. Lewis once wrote that it is easy to talk about forgiveness until we have someone to forgive. Who of us don't have people in our lives to whom we owe some forgiveness? Maybe we struggle to forgive because we think we first need to suffer from memory loss or amnesia before it is possible. Or maybe we argue that we first need to be able to walk hand-in-hand with those who have wronged us before we can forgive them. Maybe they need to show some regret and then we can start over with them.

Listen up, Jesus asks that we discard our revenge thoughts even while we still clearly remember what others have done to us. We need to start doing good things to those we consider as enemies, like Paul teaches in Romans 12. We need to heap hot coals onto the heads of our opposition by treating them with respect. We need to make them blood red with shame by not rewarding anger with more anger, or harsh words with more harsh words. Then we are forgetting while we still remember. Then the good route of Jesus is victorious in the midst of revenge and bitterness. Then forgiveness works right.