Truth in Tension?

Check out my video.  I talk about the idea of balancing seemingly contradictory truths. I hope you like it!

Life and Death

Picture yourself standing in the desert, a few hundred feet away from a beautiful all-inclusive resort.  Palm trees frame this idyllic spot, with well tended gardens and dark green grass painting a sharp contrast with the brown sand and numerous cacti all around. You can hear the laughter as couples swim in the pool and lounge around on deck chairs.  You smell the delicious aroma of the chef’s latest creation as the wind blows its scent in your direction.  You can almost taste a delicious iced coffee on your tongue.  Instead, your tongue clings to the roof of your mouth.  Your stomach is empty.  Your skin burns as it is mercilessly scorched by the noon sun.

The truth is that you could be enjoying yourself with the other resort guests.  In fact, you have the receipt in your pocket that would grant you access to an executive suite.  There are no walls to keep you out, no twist of fate that is barring your entrance.  But your feet are planted and immovable.  One foot rests on the burning sand, and the other is balanced threateningly on your enemy’s neck.  This person hurt you.  They did unspeakable things that caused you great pain!  They deserve this!  They deserve to die of thirst in this lifeless desert, and you want to look them straight in the eyes as they breathe their last.  Ok, you might be convinced to let them die alone — you don’t really have to be there — but the same resort that is available to cater to your every need is also available to satisfy theirs…they too have a receipt and a claim on an executive suite, and there is nothing at all blocking their way.  Nothing that is, except you.  After many long hours in this deadlock, as your strength begins to fail and your mind waivers, you begin to wonder; would you die of thirst within site of water, just to make sure your enemy would die too?

Unforgiveness is your deadliest foe.  It convinces you that to be strong, to maintain your dignity, and to heal your wounds, you must first even the balance.  It is only right that the person that wronged you should taste the same pain that you had to live with…isn’t it?  How can the wrongs of the world ever be made right until the guilty are punished?  And truly, that would be fair.  But it would be a fair world in which the desert would be filled with dead and dying souls.  It would be a fair world where the multitudes perish within sight of a beautiful haven that would satisfy their hearts’ desires.  It would be a fair world that would never experience the joy of love, the warmth of community, and the hope of a better future. It would be fair…and it would be hell!

Forgiveness is to remove your foot from your enemy’s neck.  It destroy’s the only obstacle that keeps you from enjoying heaven’s bounty, and gives your enemy the opportunity to partake in it as well.  It is not an easy choice.  Our hurt demands that someone be punished!…but then again, somebody already was punished.  The only man who was truly innocent already suffered and died of thirst within site of heaven’s waters.  This man chose to die in the desert rather than enter into heaven’s fullness without you!  In fact, it was him who purchased you your room in the executive suite.  The question is, will you consider his punishment enough to satisfy your vengeance?  Will you allow your enemy the freedom to enter heaven, and will you enter in yourself?  The choice is yours.