Connecting Point: The Forgotten Key

Have you ever experienced losing your keys? Many of us have. We are usually in a hurry and heading out the door. Anxiety sets in fast. Often when we slow down, take a breath and retrace our steps, we find the illusive things. Sometimes those keys are lost into the abyss, never to be heard clanging again.

In practice, many of us understand the value of forgiving others who hurt us but the actual process of forgiving can be alluding. When we encounter a wrong, frustration and anxiety get a tight grip on our heart, sometimes we get lost. So although we know it’s best to forgive we forget the key to forgiveness. In Luke 17, Jesus presents us with the truth when he brilliantly describes this in the seven times seven teaching, and here we see the disciples respond as one.

“Increase our faith,” they said, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty,’” (Luke 17:5-10).

In essence the disciples were saying we understand the importance of forgiveness but still don’t know how to forgive. Jesus provides the answer again by use of metaphor, having “faith as small as a mustard seed.” I think that part of our lack of forgiveness is due to forgetfulness. We wind up forgetting to ask Jesus for help. But Jesus demonstrates it is all about having a smidgen of faith in Him. Christ’s parable can be summed up like this; a self-righteous person is a servant acting like a master. When we refuse to forgive, we’re not remembering who we are. We, too, wrong or hurt others but give little grace to those who wrong us. Therefore, if we understand the Gospel at all, we will be better able to forgive.

Pastor Timothy Keller says, “The only way to get out of the incongruity of servants acting like kings is to see the beauty of the King who became a servant.” In Christ-like humility, we focus on our actions and reactions when dealing with sin or offense and our will to forgive. God has planted in each of us a nature that needs to remember to return to Christ in all ways.