Numbness & Forgiveness

Most of us have heard the story about how to boil a frog. If you take a frog and put him in a pot of boiling water he’ll jump out pretty quick. But if you put a frog in a pot of room temperature water and slowly turn the temperature up to boiling, pretty soon you will have a boiled frog.

Call me a frog.

I’ve been a Christian all my life. I cannot remember a time where Jesus was not a part of my life. I was raised going to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I remember making the decision to be baptized when I was 12. But I cannot remember a specific moment of accepting Jesus as my Savior. He just always was. But recently I realized that constantly being in church had made me numb to some aspects of Christianity. One aspect in particular that I took for granted was the value of forgiveness.

I am a sinner. I’ve never believed I’m perfect because I am a Christian. Being a Christian just means that I’ve accepted the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for my sins. I’ve accepted the forgiveness that he has offered. Yet it took an act of human forgiveness for me to truly understand the value of that forgiveness.

Looking through your tears at the tears in the eyes of someone you have wronged impacts you. It hits you deep in the gut, in a place that paralyzes your emotions. I’m not saying you can’t feel anything. Your emotions are frozen in a wretched, helpless mess. You are at the mercy of someone that you have wronged. Nothing can change what you’ve done. It’s their turn to respond.

Human nature tells them to make you squirm. To scream and yell. To make you feel every bit as horrible as they feel. You know that is what you would want to do as you wait for their response But that's not what they do.

They forgive you. And you realize the gift they have given you. And you remember how precious the gift of God's forgiveness is. And you start to wonder what other things in your faith you have become numb to.