DID YOU LEAVE THE HANDLE

STICKING UP?

 

Jeanette Lockerbie in The Image of Joy tells about having overheard a Christian say about a fellow believer, "I've buried the hatchet - but I've left the handle sticking up."

 

A man by the name of Sydney Harris said it this way - "There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site."

 

The Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations gives a perfect example of someone who buried the hatchet and left the handle sticking up, just in case he might need to use it again someday - "There is too much of the spirit of the Highland man who, having been persuaded on what was supposed to be his deathbed to forgive a neighbor who had been led into his chamber for a formal reconciliation, called after him as he was leaving the room, 'Remember, if I get better, this will all be off!' "

 

It's the Christian's duty to forgive.

 

In other words, it's our obligation, responsibility, service, part, task, charge, business, and office before God to forgive and then forget every offense that is committed against us. God's grace is sufficient to bring about this lasting result. Revenge is out of the question for every believer.

 

Someone once said - "There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."

William Blake added to that - "The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness."

And Chrysostom once said - "Nothing causes us to so nearly resemble God as the forgiveness of injuries."

 

What about it, Fellow Believer? Have you conquered your enemies by forgiving them? Have you completely buried the hatchet - handle and all - by forgiving the guilty party and then forgetting every offense committed against you? Do you resemble God this day or the devil? It all depends on whether or not you are able to forgive those who hurt and offended you in the past and are then able to forget the offense.

 

Do you find yourself rehearsing every act that was committed against you? Does it play in your mind every day like a broken record? Do you constantly bring it up before all? Does everything that happens to you remind you of it? Then it sounds like you still have the handle showing where you buried your hatchet. You are not filled with the spirit of forgiveness but the spirit of the Highland man who - at the first opportunity - desires revenge and to get even.

 

The words of  J.C. Ryle are disturbing yet so true - "It is a melancholy fact that there are few Christian duties so little practised as that of forgiveness."

 

We are a people who have been forgiven of so much by our Master and Lord.

How is it then that we have such a problem being merciful unto others when we have received so many mercies from our God...that we fall so short of the Glory of God in this area of forgiving and then forgetting?

Have we forgotten where we have been brought from...what we once were and what we are today - and all because of the Grace of God?

There is no place for boasting.

If there is any good in us - it is there because of Calvary.

 

But -- you argue and protest -- you do not know what I have been through. No one has been more offended than the Son of God, yet on the Cross He was able to forgive all of us who put Him to death by our sins - "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do..."  (Luke 23:34).

 

What about this issue of forgiveness? What does the Bible have to say to us today?

 

Matthew 18:20-21 relates - "Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

 

"I forgive him" - We can know that we have truly forgiven someone from our hearts -

...when we can consider the situation as though it never happened;

...when we harbor no malice or resentment toward the party who hurt us;

...when we treat our offender kindly, thoughtfully, gently, and considerately.

This is when we know that we have truly buried our hatchet - handle and all.

 

"Till seven times?" - The Jews had an understanding that a man was required to forgive another three times but not the fourth - having a "three strikes and then you are out" mentality. Theirs was a limited forgiveness. This explains why Peter brought up a certain number in reference to forgiving another.

 

"Until seventy times seven" - What did Jesus say in response to Peter? He immediately refuted the concept of having a limit on our forgiveness. God certainly does not hold any limits on our forgiveness and we must do the same for our offenders; that is, if we call ourselves followers of Christ. As often as a brother injures us and then asks for forgiveness, that is as often as we are to forgive him and then forget his wrongdoing. We are not to keep count of the offences done against us. 

 

It is the duty of every believer to ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoing. We are not to deliberately be inconsiderate of the feelings and rights of others nor to carry ourselves so highly in that we mistreat others and think nothing of it. May God help us in this area and swiftly convict us when we slight our brother or sister in the least way.

 

It is the duty of every believer to then forgive another who asks for it. At no time ever are we allowed to bear a grudge or mediate revenge. Even when another does not step out and ask, we should still treat this individual kindly and respectfully - hoping and praying that by heaping coals of fire upon our enemy's head - the Lord will bring him to the realization of his unkind actions or words.

 

In this area of forgiveness, the Lord Jesus warned us to - "Take heed to yourselves..." (Luke 17:3). We must be on guard against the enemy gaining a place in us through any unforgiveness towards another. So many have their prayers hindered simply because they have not yet forgiven others.

 

Luke 17:3-4 says - "...If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."

 

"If thy brother trespass against thee" - This will happen to us so we need not be surprised when it does. Others will sin against us, injure us, and perhaps even do damage to our reputation or life.

 

"Rebuke him" - How did the Lord Jesus teach us to handle these matters? He taught us to reprove our brother and go to him and tell him his fault - seeking for a possible explanation of his actions.  

 

"If he repent, forgive him" - We are commanded to forgive our brother every time that he repents...never to count the offenses done against us...and never to think about them again.

 

Did you bury your hatchet with the handle and all?

If not, today is as good a day as any to be sure and bury every offense of the past - never to remember it again.

 

If there is anyone who you need to forgive, don't put it off another moment. Forgive and then forget - leaving it all behind you.