Untangling

You have acne all over your face. Do you see it? Notice how it hurts you, makes you feel bad. You have been wronged, abused, deceived. You find a twisted delight in prodding at the puss, complaining about the protruding piece of disgust. You look at the mirror, look at yourself. All you care about is your hurt. You focus on only you. And you let the acne, the hurt spread. It overwhelms you. You are constantly conscious of your acne. You cannot forget.

Having acne is like holding a grudge.

You want to get rid of the disgusting spots and thoughts in your life. But something is stopping you. It might be pride. It might be fear. It might be because that acne medicine had false advertising. But mostly it is because you think only of yourself. You and your pain become best enemies, gasping for more of that noxious air to breathe, for more bacteria to tell the world about. You may prod at the acne, may ponder about forgiveness. But you never are willing to destroy your pain, your hurt.
When someone wrongs you, it feels unnatural to forgive.
When you have acne, it feels destructive to pop the zit.

It takes courage and love to initiate forgiveness. You love your face, you are going to give that acne a kick. You show love to that person by destroying the nasty thoughts.

And when you pop the puss, it looks better. You flatten the blob of vileness and take away the sewage of sorrow. You say the “I forgive you” line and begin the process of erasing irritation. Its painful to puncture a puss pocket, to dismiss someone whose hurt you. But it makes the thoughts that plague you go away. You have to learn how to forget.

Forgiveness is an operation. It hurts. It does not feel right. But in the end, it does a whole lot of good.

We all know that popping a zit is not the best way to go about destroying acne. It may spread bacteria. It leaves scars. You are not a perfect person and so you will still have to keep forgiving.

But there is a far better way to get rid of acne. There is an ultimate source of forgiveness. Acne can be destroyed with a chemical solution. Its much more expensive and it may cost you, but it does a better, more sanitary job. In reality, there is no perfect acne removal system. But there is someone who is capable of complete and pure forgiveness. God.

“No matter how deep is the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

God is the ultimate master of forgiveness. We wrong Him everyday. We slander, abuse, pollute, attack, kill, destruct… We have so many words for all the wicked humans are capable of. And yet He forgives us.

How?

He did it through the death of His son. His solution for the acne, for the sin was the substance of His son, of blood.

He killed Himself. Just like you have to kill your pride when you forgive someone, God killed Himself when Jesus died on the cross.

“He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.” Ephesians 1:7

When we truly believe, we have this realization of forgiveness. No more guilt. He does not hold a grudge. We are free.

And because we are forgiven by God, we are called to forgive others, to pop those zits with the best of our ability.

“You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13

It is so difficult to forgive. If something has made you cry so badly, so fiercely…You just hold on to the pain. You do not like giving up something that has hurt you. It is not fair to feel the pain, to be the one having acne.
Why do we keep the grudge? Why should we forgive and move on? Because God has erased our sins. And it would be hypocritical for us to not forgive others.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Forgiving someone is like killing yourself, your pride. You want justice. You want to let the world know that you have been wronged.

But you have wronged others. Maybe they have never forgiven you. You know how it feels.

There is something wrong with us. We all have faults. But take God. See how allowed himself to die, see how he LOVES us. He took the love potion, the blood and washed away the sins. He is the ultimate forgiver.

God loves you and forgives you…for everything…everything! A difficult concept for humans. But a good example to follow. A good relief for the acne in this world.