‘…But if you do not forgive,
neither will your Father in
heaven forgive your trespasses.’
Mark 11:26
Have you ever
wished you could turn back the hands of time, if only for a few seconds? Perhaps
you have made this wish, if ever so briefly, to correct a grave error, to avoid
an accident or to side step a hurt to yourself or a loved one. I have silently
wished this on many occasions, but, like you, have yet to have this wish
granted. Rather, I have been granted two things that are more useful in this
life. These are a fair sense of the consequences
of actions and a keen interest in trying to perceive what may have occurred in
the spiritual world ‘just before’ a
particular action was manifested.
Thankfully, my
parents instilled into me a fair sense of the consequences of my actions as an
often-disobedient child. This has served me
well, even when grace intervenes, and I don’t get what I deserved.
My growing interest
in perceiving what may have occurred in the world of spirit just before a
particular incident is probably based on frequently hearing, as a young boy,
Paul’s admonition, ‘now we see through a
glass darkly.’ Boy, how that would spark
my curiosity! I even recall looking through the bottom glass of a broken Coca
Cola bottle to get an idea of what he was talking about. Reading The Bible’s
account of miracles and appearances of spiritual beings, my imagination would
often get the best of me as I strained to perceive what might have been going
on behind-the-scenes just prior to these appearances.
As an adult
experienced in the world of international diplomatic affairs, I can easily
perceive and associate some of the behind-the-scenes developments leading to
landmark moments in diplomacy. No doubt, we all have some level of
perceptiveness and can relate to such associations in our various professions.
But what of our spiritual
perceptiveness en avance? Many
Christians practice a kind of ex post
facto spiritual awareness by which they associate some past physical
development to, or with a particular spiritual principle. While this is better
than no spiritual awareness at all, it takes little growth and practically no
faith to do this. In fact, we probably all know of Christians who regularly
practice such an ex post awareness by
easily spiritualizing just about every development that comes along …after the
fact.
What may be needed
is a sharper, inner perceptiveness to pierce, to see, hear, and feel, beyond the veil or behind-the-scenes of
everyday life. Better yet, The Bible confirms it is our circumstantial
reality that is really behind the scenes, and that spiritual activity is,
in effect, up-front and more real than what we call reality. This
may be why we are noted as living in the ‘third dimension.’ Since spiritual
activity precedes or spawns and influences all physical activity, we
are the ones living life behind-the-scenes, so to speak.
Joshua’s experience
in preparing the ancient, relatively inexperienced Israeli army for the battle
for the city of Jericho is a clear illustration of this point. Following an
encounter with the ‘Commander of the army of The Lord’, (Joshua 5:14), he is no doubt startled when The Lord subsequently
says, ‘See! I have [already or just]
given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.’ (Joshua 6:2) Thus, before the Israeli army had taken the first step against Jericho, The Lord had
already fought and won the battle for the city, spiritually speaking!
Hundreds of years
following Joshua’s incredible experience, Paul confirmed a key principle, and
admonished us to become more aware of what’s happening up front as we
live our lives behind the veil:
For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places.
As a
microcosm of practically everything that God is not, un-forgiveness must be
chief among these powers, a real show stopper! Fear-based, un-giving, selfish and egocentric, un-forgiveness
evidences lack of trust in God, and is rooted in pride, the original (first
recorded) sin, committed by satan. Jesus confirmed un-forgiveness is a close cousin to doubt and disbelief (Mark 11:25), promoting pride in our
ability to handle a matter better than God can. As un-forgiveness
is high on the list of things that block the flow of God’s power in our lives,
forgiveness must be high on God’s list of character traits of Christ to be
developed in us.
How Jackie wished
so hard that she could have turned back the hands of time just for a few
seconds as she heard the echoes of some horribly harsh word that uncontrollably
flew out of her mouth! The lingering stresses of a long settled divorce
apparently had crept in deeper than she was aware, and had worn down her
defenses. While certain that she had
forgiven her ex and herself of all hurts and disappointments, she continued to
wrestle with off-the-cuff sarcasm and jokes about her former life, easily
rehearsing scenes from the past. Her sarcasm had become second nature, easily
streaming out of her mouth in certain company and circumstances, leaving its
stinging bite lingering heavily in the air.
To help dig out of
this pit of un-forgiveness, Jackie activated her keen imagination with the
awareness that physical manifestations are but the fruit or afterbirth of
spiritual activity. She sharpened her sense of the future past, actively and simultaneously imagining both the
likely spiritual roots and consequences
of her words and actions before she let them fly! With time and
experience, this gradually reduced the frequency of situations in which she
wished she could just turn back the hands of time.
With the same vigor
and spiritual perceptiveness, she tackled the apparently deep-rooted issues of
un-forgiveness she had toward others, of which she was largely unaware. Through
diligent and vigilant prayer, and with the support of a book, Feelings
Buried Alive Never Die, by Karol Truman, Jackie became increasingly aware of
how unresolved negative emotional experiences, including un-forgiveness, take
root within our spirits, and eventually manifest as physical illnesses and
disease. This revelation ignited a new found passion to rid herself of past un-forgiveness
of herself and others as a kind of double insurance policy, to ensure better
health and the continued flow of God’s power in her life.
Here’s how Jackie
got to the root of her problem:
·
She asked
for God’s help as she acknowledged and confessed her problem of unresolved un-forgiveness
·
She chose
to no longer hold onto the spirit of un-forgiveness
·
She began
to listen more attentively to her thoughts and conversations for signs of
sarcasm and jokes about her former life, rehearsing scenes from the past
·
She learned
and applied effective conflict resolution skills, refusing to ‘let the sun go
down on her wrath’ and embracing Matthew 5:23-25: ‘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. Settle matters quickly with your
adversary.’
Above all, Jackie
forsook any rights to hold onto un-forgiveness, realizing that her own need for God’s forgiveness is inextricably
linked to her willingness to forgive others. In this manner, Jackie learned
to live her life behind the ‘spiritual scene’ or shield of forgiveness. Now she
understands more fully that…
Forgiveness is
God’s opportunity for us to
walk in the grace
that we have received.
In
considering yet another perspective of living life behind-the-scenes, admittedly, my curiosity gets the best of me
when I reflect upon Matthew 28, which provides an array of signals and warnings
concerning life on earth just prior to the rapture of the Church. Rather than
the traditional focus on interpreting (and often mis-interpreting) news events, I often reflect upon who could be the last soul saved.
Reflect with me on
this topic for just a minute. Imagine in a split second that we are
collectively on the ‘cloud ride to Glory’ and all that you believe this moment will
entail begins to unfold before you. Now, just imagine you are able to somehow ‘rewind
the tape’ a few minutes or hours before this glorious event, and to witness
that last person on earth who repented of his/her sins and accepted Jesus as
Lord and Savior. Now, imagine what may have been going on in Heaven at this
very moment, when God turns to Jesus and says something like,
‘Son, that completes
Our Church. Go now and bring them home…’
Back on the cloud
ride, can you imagine the tremendous joy and satisfaction of the person who
will have shared Christ with this ‘last soul’ leading to this final
decision for salvation?!
As you continue in your life
behind Heaven’s scene here on Earth,
imagine you may very well be
the person who shares Christ with …
‘that last soul’ to be swept
into God’s Kingdom.
