True Forgiveness - A Matter of Humility; A Matter of the Heart
Matthew 5: 23-24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
The sad truth in this world is that people hurt us. They lie to us, mistreat us, and wound us grievously. Christians are not immune from this phenomenon, which is alive in the church as well. At the end of the day, Christians are human too; thankfully saved by grace. The misperception the world has is that Christians are somehow morally superior, perhaps because sometimes we can mistakenly act that way. But the cold reality is that Christians can also lie, mistreat and wound. Often times the resulting casualty is far worse because we get lulled into thinking that it couldn't come from another Christian.
Just as in the world, wounds will lead to scars. Scars will serve as a permanent reminder of the pain someone caused. The enemy will use those scars to keep us in our past. The scars will shackle us to the pain we never truly got over and prevent us from seeing the future God has for us. You cannot live in the present, or see the future, if you are staring at your past. But thankfully God has given us some instruction in these two verses from Matthew. These are the words of Jesus Himself.
There are three important lessons here. The first is we need to stop playing church. The verses begin with, "if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember..." Now, why would Jesus give such an example? To remind us that going through the Christian motions are not enough. Realize that the altar is representative of anywhere you meet with God, not necessarily church. But even within the church context we can see people every Sunday who raise their hands in worship and intently listen to the word of God, but whom are not reconciled with another Christian. Realize how strong this command is. The sacrifice can be anything, even praise unto God or sharing with others:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16
Jesus is commanding us here to not even offer a sacrifice of praise if there are differences unresolved between you and another! Why? Because it speaks to the condition of your heart beloved. A similar command is found in the Gospel of Mark:
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Mark 11:25
