'The fruit of the Spirit is love', Galatians 5:22.
'Love covers over a multitude of sins', 1 Peter 4:8
We all know that love is to be the distinctive mark of the Christian living. But how can we bring ourselves to love people who have deeply hurt or abused us? Or, indeed, people who continue to hurt or abuse us? Perhaps this is the hardest thing that God ever asks us to do.
Jesus' teaching is clear - that we should love our enemies, bless those who curse us and pray for those who ill-treat us (Luke 6:27-28). But before we consider how we can do this, we should perhaps ask Why? Why should I, the one who has been wronged, who has been damaged or diminished, love the person who has done this to me?
Well, first, because Jesus, whom we humans wronged and spurned, loved us first. So we cannot grow close to him while resentment and bitterness stops up in us the spring of love for others. And second, because resentment and bitterness eats us up. It haunts our waking, disturbs our sleeping, and lurks round corners jumping out on us suddenly when we least expect it. It distorts our judgment, hinders our spontaneity and impregnates us with those most unattractive twins - self-righteousness and self-pity.
But how can we bridge the chasm between bitterness and love? The first step is forgiveness. Martin Luther King wrote: "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Whoever is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love". Part of forgiveness is the will to forgive - the resolve to banish the sense of injured innocence that we may secretly cherish. Even to articulate the words "I forgive her" through clenched teeth is a start. But the forgiveness that truly liberates, and makes way for love, is only the fruit of the Spirit.
Whether the person who has wronged me belongs to my distant past, or daily sits beside me in the office or opposite me at the breakfast table, please,Holy Spirit, nurture in my life that love that covers a multitude of sins.
Helen Parry
No comments:
Post a Comment