“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because
God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ― C.S. Lewis
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I have thought a lot about forgiveness over the last
week. I write this having experienced the
death of my father. My father finished
well. He was adored and loved by the people around him and especially his
family. This is despite a horrible
beginning. All of dad’s closest family members
carry the scars of his sins. As a
result we all spun out of control for a period of time, some longer than
others. All of us were terribly hurt by
the “inexcusable” sins of this father and husband. What has amazed me the most was how all of us
who were impacted—God is working in our lives, actively working. He in His own time is healing and mending our
hearts. We have all tried different ways to
cope with his sins. We have turned to sin in the hope of finding temporary relief and as a result we have lost
spouses, damaged relationship and hurt others as our father hurt us. We have all
tried to ignore the problems, we have finger pointed, we have even tried to hurt each
other and we have all carried some level of resentment. Fact remains we still have a lot to work
through and we need each other more than ever.
What my father did was inexcusable.
If the story ended right here it would be a tragedy. But the beauty of this story is not in the man
and his sin but in a God and His love. It’s
the story of a selfish man and a humble God who gave His life for selfish sins. God died for men like my father in order that
His glory may be displayed in his life.
Once God grabbed hold of my dad's heart He made him a new creation in Christ. My father started to live for something other than himself. My father could not have possibly saved
himself it was an act of God. It didn't
happen overnight but over time and as his physical health declined he learned
to lean on God’s love, strength and mercy. In
the end through suffering my father learned to be dependent on God and His
grace and as a result God begun a “mighty” work through him.
In the end my father was surrounded by the people who he had
hurt the most. This wasn't because of
anything my dad did but because of the work God did in him. God had forgiven him of the inexcusable sin
he had committed against God by the way he lived his life. My father understood the height of God’s
grace because he understood the depth of his own sin and the wake of destruction
he had left behind. It was by God’s grace my father was who he was and it was
by God’s grace his family surrounded him as he took his last breath.
