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LIVING THE LIFE OF
FORGIVENESS |
I think that perhaps the most important and simplest lesson of the Bible, and one of the most important definitions of Love can be summed in one word, "forgiveness". When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the crowd shouted to Him that "if" He was the Messiah, why didn't He come down from the Cross and save Himself? Some of His disciples were most likely thinking that if He truly was the Messiah that He would have called upon legions of angels to protect Him from the hour that was to come. Jesus knew that He could have done that, being God in the form of flesh, but instead He chose to demonstrate the level of His Love toward mankind by His non violent demonstration of His forgiveness toward those who hated Him and sentenced Him to death.
Martin Luther King, Jr., who I believe to be one of the nations modern day prophets, also exercised this same demonstration of love in his non violent demonstrations against racism. Martin Luther King, Jr. was stabbed, his house was bombed, his life and the life of his wife and children were constantly being threatened, but Martin Luther King, Jr. still stood on the same principles of Jesus' in his demonstration of love towards those who wanted to see his life come to an end. MLK, Jr. said to never allow your enemies to make you stoop so low as to hate them. MLK, Jr. did not view those people who hated him as the enemy, he looked beyond their hatred and saw that it was not the people who were the enemy, but a condition of the heart untouched by the Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. No matter what they did to Jesus or Martin Luther King, Jr., neither of them ever retaliated in violence against those who hated them.
Jesus said that as many times as others commit acts of hatred towards you, that is how often you should forgive them. Forgiveness and Love were the ultimate tools used by our Lord and Savior to achieve His Victory over death. Hatred is the defeat and deterioration of the human soul and the world at large, which ultimately only leads to greater and greater destruction and increases the cause of human suffering in the lives of many. Those who live the life of forgiveness actively demonstrate that they do not want to see an increase of destruction or suffering in humanity of any kind, regardless of what is done towards them. Hatred bitters the heart of mankind and increases evil in the world while forgiveness softens the heart of humanity and increase love.
To some these word "forgiveness" may seem like an unreasonable ideal considering all the hurt and pain each of us have felt in our lives, to others who choose to live the lifestyle of forgiveness it is the healing salve for mankind. When Jesus hung on the cross, He did not lash out at the people who were crucifying Him. The only words that came to His mind were, "Father, forgive them....."
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