Forgiving in light of eternity

I posted yesterday about forgiving those who wrong us. It was a call to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. And while that call applies equally to those outside the church and to those inside the church, there’s a further, very powerful dynamic in play when it comes to forgiving fellow believers. 

If we should forgive the men of the world as we’ve been forgiven by God, then how much more should we forgive the men of the church? However a fellow believer may mistreat or injure us, however they may wrong or hurt us, nothing can break the tie or dissolve the brotherhood we share in Christ. Even if, sadly, either we or they separate to another church, the brotherhood we share with them is so firmly established in Christ that nothing they do can break it. Can a trivial difference, an angry word, a rude comment, even a slander break a bond that is firmer than flesh and blood and more enduring than time itself?

Though their old man and my new man may fall out in a fight, yet our new man shall ever and forever be friends in Christ. Even if the differences are so strong between us that we stop talking to each other and separate for the rest of our lives, we shall yet be united on that Day of happy reunion and we shall again warmly embrace each other and behave like friends who have been too long apart.

Here’s a call for forbearance as well as forgiveness, is it not (Col 3.13)? While on earth, we are in the body and must bear one another burdens. We cannot live like angels in this life and none of us can be perfect. Why, then, are we surprised if our brother hurts us and if our sister proves to be a sinner still? If the church of Christ on earth is a hospital for sin-burdened sinners and not a sanctuary for sin-free saints, then why are we surprised to find that the people who dwell within it are sick with the plague of sin and still need us to bear with their stumbling and to forgive their sinning?

But there’s something else… if these are the same people with whom we’ll spend eternal ages, the same family with whom we’ll be forever united in the sweetest and happiest of fellowship, then how can we refuse to forgive them now? When we stand together before the presence of our Lord, eternal harmony shall reign, perfect concord and friendship shall prevail, and all the seemingly insurmountable differences shall be swallowed up in the divine overflowings of eternal love. Why, then, on any account should we withhold love now from a person whom we will love perfectly for all eternity?

Come, therefore, let us antedate our eternity and live today in light of what shall be by freely and fully forgiving those with whom we shall have neither difference nor division on that Day. Let us throw aside every difference today and pursue what makes for that harmony and peace for which the Lord is preparing us. Let us bury all our injuries, forgive all wrongs against us, and be reconciled to our friends and brethren, however they’ve treated us. And when we happen to remember the wrong they’ve done, let it lead us to magnify the grace of God who heals, comforts, and will wipe away every tear, rather than lead us to lessen our love for our brethren, for whom we should maintain the tenderest compassion and patience.

In short, it’s not strange that sinners should fall out with one another…but it is strange that men with such expectations as we have should live and die fallen out. Therefore as far as it depends on you, be at peace with your brethren. Determine today that if a division can’t be healed, the hindrance to reconciliation won’t be on your side. Forgive your fellow sinner, bury the sin as God buries yours–in the sea of forgetfulness, and refuse to charge it against him any more than God charges you with the sins He’s forgiven for you. And don’t wait for the offender to come to you with an apology, go out to him (at least in your heart) with your forgiveness. Fix your eyes on the peace and harmony that you shall enjoy with that brother in eternity and let that guide you in how to treat him now.

In other words, when it comes to those inside the church, we must forgive them in light of eternity. We must live as those who look forward to the peace, love, unity, and joy of heaven and are therefore diligent to bring a little more of heaven into every day of life. And remember, it won’t happen if you don’t do it.