Dear Friends,
First some business–I apologize for being off a whole book in my opening reference to the footwashing story in last week’s message. It is found in John 13:1-11, not Luke, which I am sure a lot of you figured out. For some reason, I had Luke on my brain. I even changed it from John in the original.
This is the eleventh message in a series on the people and events the Lord has used to shape my life as a follower of Christ. It is my hope and prayer these messages will stir your own reflection on your spiritual life and the people and happenings where you have found encouragement and insight along the way.
I am returning to the theme of forgiveness this week. Forgiveness is at the heart of the gospel. Because forgiving means letting go of something to which we believe we have a right, it is hard to do. Absent the power of Christ’s love, it may be impossible for us.
“To err is human, to forgive, divine” wrote the 18th Century English poet, Alexander Pope. As human’s we transgress against God and his children, but we don’t come to forgiveness naturally. Without God, we are all competitors scrambling and shoving for whatever we can get of this world’s finite resources. But Christ in his mercy, says there is a better way–
“Receive my life as your own and rely upon my love and grace, and you won’t be eking out that losing, hand-to-mouth existence any more.”
The experience of this story deepened my understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit to heal. It also led to one of my dearest friendships with the man I call Jack in this story. Jack and his wife turned to the Lord in every aspect of their lives. I am amazed and blessed as I look over the passage of years to see their two daughters grow up in love with Jesus, to see the prison ministry, and men’s and women’s fellowships that have been blessed by their devoted participation and leadership.
What I learned from this experience is forgiveness releases us to life and growth, but unforgiveness is a cancer that will eat away and destroy our souls.
. . .
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“Put away from you all bitterness, wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:31-32, NRSV).
I once represented a man named Brian in a corporate fight with a man named Jack.* They were both successful young men who owned their own businesses. They were close friends who came together to form a joint venture that did well.
A dispute arose between them over profit distributions. Brian accused Jack of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars that Brian contended were rightfully his. Brian hired me to aggressively pursue his claim against Jack.
The corporate books were audited. Jack claimed an oral agreement with Brian as the basis of his conduct. Brian denied the existence of such an agreement. I vigorously challenged Jack’s lack of documentation. The fighting grew ugly with charges and threats.
Jack’s father, himself a successful businessman, had originally introduced Jack and Brian to each other. He attempted to mediate the conflict. He met with me several times, but to no avail. He and I did discover a common love for Christ and began a friendship on that basis.
As I pressed Brian’s attack on Jack, it became apparent that this dispute was about more than money. I came to understand it was a battle about betrayal of friendship, hurt feelings, and jealousy. The litigation might win some money, but it would not heal the broken hearts.
I began to pray for these two men, Brian was a church-going Christian. Jack was reared in a Christian home, but rejected all things spiritual as an adult. His hostility to Christianity was well known among his colleagues and employees.
Unexpectedly one morning, Jack called me from his car and said he was on his way to see me. I told him, “I won’t meet you without your attorney present. It isn’t ethical.”
In a few minutes, Jack’s attorney called me. He said, “Jack insists on meeting with you alone. He instructed me to tell you that he will be at your office in 15 minutes.”
“Well, Dennis,” I said, “I’m very uncomfortable with this. I give you my word that I will not discuss the substantive issues with Jack without you present.”
I closed the door to my office and prayed that the Holy Spirit would seize control of the situation and remove my ego as an obstacle to God’s plan for Brian and Jack.
Jack arrived. He looked troubled. We sat down in the conference room of my firm and he began to tell me his side of the case.
“I’m not going to discuss the lawsuit with you,” I told him. “What I want to know is how are you doing? I see that you’re anxious and upset. But the core issue here is what is the truth about you? Who are you? What do you really want? No one in this fight can supply that truth–not Brian, not your mentor, not your attorney, not me. What is the truth about you?
Briefly then I told him how ambition and success kept me, drove me, and sucked me dry until I had expended everything I had spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. I described my terror when I realized that everything I was and possessed wasn’t enough to keep up with the demands on my life. At that point, I was staring into a dark abyss with the choice to plunge ahead to self-destruction or to turn to the unknown. Right there I encountered Jesus–the Way, the Truth and the Life–and I was changed.
I said, “The deepest truth about you, Jack, is that you are loved by God. You need to meet Jesus Christ and let Him take you to his Father with whom you always have a home.”
He began to weep. We both stood up. I stretched my 5′ 9″ inch height on my tiptoes to reach up to his 6′ 5″ height. I hugged him and I wept with him there beside the very table where we would sit across from each other when I took his deposition.
Jack thanked me and left me only 45 minutes after arriving. I found out later that he drove to a parking lot where he sat for three hours ignoring pages from his office. There, alone, he gave his heart to Jesus Christ.
The next day Jack flew to another state to meet my client, Brian, who was vacationing. They met at the pool side of a resort hotel. Jack told Brian of his surrender to Christ. He asked for Brian’s forgiveness (even thought the matter was still very much in dispute and Jack had a case). He told Brian that he would give him whatever he wanted. Brian is a tough, shrewd businessman. He couldn’t believe that anyone in his right mind would ask for forgiveness with this much at stake. He demanded several hundred thousand dollars in settlement. Jack paid it without complaint.
Just over a year later, Jack was baptized in the swimming pool of one of his attorneys. To our gathered families and friends, I said, “This man and I were once enemies. We fought each other and called each other terrible names. Now we are brothers in Jesus Christ, reconciled by His cross. This is a miracle of grace. This is the gospel.
There are no adequate words to conclude a story like this. Jesus said, “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (John 5:17). Once and a while we are privileged to glimpse the Father and Son at work–sometimes even at a law firm conference table.
Forgiveness speaks to our souls with the eloquence of God. Are you listening, really listening?
Eugene H. Peterson, in The Message, paraphrases Jesus’ post-resurrection visit to the disciples’ hiding place as recorded in John 20.
The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.’ Then he took a deep breath and breathed in to them. ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’ he said. ‘If you forgive someone’s sins they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them” (John 20:20-23).
…
If we don’t forgive those who sin against us, what are we going to do with them? Kill them, imprison them, take their money, cut them off without contact, humiliate them, hate them, ignore them?
The problem with a refusal to forgive is that it is a chain locked to our heart on one end and the painful past on the other end. Every time the tension of memory and resentment tugs on the chain of unforgiveness attached to our heart it tears open the wound and we are in torment.
Our forgiveness means freedom and life for us even if our overtures are rejected by our adversaries. We can’t control the response of our enemy, but we can unlock the chain of resentment and set ourselves free. This calls for faith and an appeal to the Lord to work this out. Even if the pain is too great and the taste too bitter for us to forget, the prayer is: “Lord Jesus Christ, I cannot forgive, but You can. I trust you to accomplish Your forgiveness in me.”
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.