Rev. Don Campbell
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2018: THE CROSS AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS
People have sinned against us in the past and people will sin against us in the future.
- If we focus on those sins, we will live conflicted lives.
Sometimes the conflict will be inside us and sometimes it will be between us and others. The degree to which we can let go of the wrongs of the past is the degree to which we can heal spiritually and emotionally. If we have unfinished business in our lives it will continue to inflict spiritual, emotional, and sometimes even physical pain on us—pain which we then inflict on others.
The prevailing wisdom of our recent past was that it took long hours of psychotherapy to enable one to deal with the unfinished business of the past. This wisdom has been pretty much abandoned in favor of brief therapy that focuses on solutions in the present rather than sins of the past. For Christians who struggle with past sins—whether those committed against them or those they have committed—there is a precise and powerful treatment method that is often overlooked in the context of emotional and spiritual health—the cross of Christ.
Isaiah wrote, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4). Is this grief and sorrow that we carry because of sins we have committed, or sins committed against us? The next verse says, “He was wounded for our transgressions.” This makes it sound as if Isaiah is speaking of the grief we bear for sins we have committed. However, the New King James Version and the New American Standard Version give the literal meaning of the word griefs as sicknesses. Matthew quotes Isaiah, saying, “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” I don’t believe we have to choose one over the other, for both are true—he carries the grief and sorrow that we feel, but he also carries the grief and sorrow that we inflict, for those against whom we inflict it also suffer grief and sorrow.
When we continue to carry the griefs and sorrows of the past, every present relationship is colored by every past relationship. The smallest, unintentional slight may be felt as rejection or betrayal. Those who did not learn to trust at their mother’s breasts, as did David, often find the world a very hostile place—more hostile than it really is, because every word emanating from the lips of others, every act, and every omission is filtered through the lens of past rejection and betrayal. The most innocent remark may be felt as a criticism, and the slightest criticism may be felt as a well-aimed attack. The normal give and take of human relationships is felt as a fully declared war.
If Jesus bore our griefs and sorrows, why do the sins of the past have such power over us? I submit to you that it is because we have not personally or subjectively laid on Jesus the grief and sorrow that he personally and objectively took upon himself at the cross. We subjectively or personally let go of our sins at the cross when the old self is crucified with him and we are set free to live in the land of grace (Rom 6:1-14).
But what about the grief and sorrow of those sins committed against us? Jesus bore those sins in his own body too. If the person or persons who sinned against us comes to the cross in faith and repentance, they are freed from the guilt of the sin that was committed against us. This takes place without any action upon our part. However, without action upon our part, we may remain forever in the grip of those wrongs, while the penitent remains forever in the grip of God’s grace. What shall we do?
This may grate against our theological constructs and our already-bruised egos, but—in view of the cross— the answer is “Forgive the one who has sinned against us.” Someone objects, “But those who have sinned against me have not repented. Didn’t Jesus say, ‘If he repents, forgive him’?” Yes. But in that context Jesus is dealing with a living person who has been judged by the church and who refuses to repent. Closure is accomplished by dismissing the offender as an alien or an apostate. We are talking about unfinished business—those situations in which closure has not taken place as evidenced by three things:
• First, we have never laid on Jesus our grief and sorrow but continue to carry it ourselves.
• Second, we are blaming the past for our present predicament.
• Third, we react negatively to people or situations that remind us of past transgressors.
The transgressors may not have sought forgiveness and reconciliation in life and may now be forever prevented from doing so by death. Does this mean that since they can’t repent and subjectively lay on Jesus the guilt of their sins that we must forever carry the sorrow and grief of the pain inflicted by that sin?
[More tomorrow]
