It intrigues me greatly that the injury spoken of here is that which follows from the result of hatred. Yet the writer puts things in perspective as he equates injury with the need for pardon. Unlike physical wounds emotional and psychological wounds cannot be simply mended. The injured as much as the injurer carries the power to heal those wounds.
The only path to healing within the mind and heart is that of pardon. It is not the healing that must come first within us it is forgiveness. Anything that I hold against another harms me. In failing to pardon, to forgive we give bitterness a place to root within us. This is not just dismissing a wrong perceived or actual. It is the act of actually excusing an offense without exacting a penalty. It is forgoing what may be righteous retribution in favor of love, grace, and mercy.
I must forgive and pardon for the sake of loving others and for the sake of protecting myself. When someone wrongs me and it is not just my pride or preferences manufacturing the wrong, I dare not hang on to the offense. I cannot truly claim to love someone if I do not fully pardon them then I am holding onto that which harms me. I cannot afford to allow any resentment or bitterness to exist in my spirit. I cannot expect to fully follow Christ if I am holding anything against anyone.
Be assured that I in no way am saying that we need to allow others to injure us again. An abused spouse can forgive and pardon and love without reentering into a dangerous environment. One does not need to allow themselves to be manipulated to pardon the one who has manipulated them. We do have to walk the tightrope of love and pardon that keeps us from being in an unsafe place and in harm’s way.
It is too easy in our culture to manufacture reasons for abandoning others instead of pardoning them. It is too common for us to dismiss people we are required to love in favor our own wants and desires. We harden our hearts to forgiveness and creating peace. We abandon people by labeling them as intolerable in some way. We find the circumstance so unbearable sometimes and we even abandon God rather than forgive and pardon.
I have strayed into all of these paths at times and have born the burden of having others do the same to me. I have seen the devastation that failure to pardon visits on others. I have seen so many people deny themselves the richness that is in Christ because they will not lay down the wrongs done to them by men. This is why wherever I feel injury I must sow pardon. It is why little offenses must mean nothing to me. It is in this act that I often fail at that I can do the most good. It is in constant vigilance over my own duty to pardon others that I can sow the most love and peace.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. – Saint Francis of Assisi
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."
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