THE UNFORGIVEN
by OneAccord 1/24/16
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth".
We all fail. I have. You have too. We have all failed at some level. To some degree or another, we stumble, we falter and we fail. Sometimes our failings are little insignificant mistakes that amount to next to nothing. For others among us, our failings are colossal.... Headline making scandals that bring us to ruin. Our failings may be barely perceptible or they may be huge. It doesn't really matter. WE ALL FAIL.
Several years ago I was in a plant managers office admiring a set of blue prints. To the untrained eye it was a tangled mess of piping, wiring and steel. As I examined it and commented on its complexity, the managers said, ”Well, yeah, that's my $10 million dollar mistake". I was shocked, but then he pointed out a very tiny portion of the drawing.... barely noticeable.... But there it was. A high pressure steam line was vented into a cold water line- a disaster of major proportions. A potential explosive situation that, if utilized, could have resulted in multiple injuries and death and the complete destruction of a multi-billion dollar installation. We all fail. We all make mistakes.
That tiny miscalculation could have... maybe should have... ruined this young plant managers career. But it didn't. Somebody believed in him. Somebody believed he was salvageable. Somebody saw enough potential in him to give him a second chance. Somebody saw a young man that could, that would, learn from his past failings, to become what he was destined to be. Somebody cared.
I know. Some failings are inexcusable. Unpardonable. Unforgivable. But.... the question is, who are we to determined who is unforgivable and who is not? We who have failed in our own way are going to sit in the seat of judgement against someone else who has failed? We are going to declare them to be unpardonable, unforgivable, when we know full well our well hidden secret sin is every bit as unforgivable as theirs? Wrong doing may be unforgivable... But theres always room to forgive a wrong doer if he acknowledges his failing.
Who are we to judge? Where is it written that we are given the right to judge? Show me where it is written that we have the right to serve as judge and jury to condemn anyone. Show me... and I will show you were it is written that we are to forgive, to reconcile and to restore. That is our duty to the fallen. To the unforgivable. I remember hearing about a state legislator that became exasperated by the amount of drugs in her state. She had enough and was determined to show no mercy toward drug dealers. Throw them in prison and throw away the key. No pleas, no pardon. No mercy. Until. Until her son... her own son... was caught dealing drugs at a local high school. Her attitude changed. Her view softened. She resigned from office because she no longer wanted to consign evil doers to hell.
I wonder... what lengths would we go to to restore a son or daughter who has fallen into drugs or some other evil? We'd move heaven and earth to try to bring them home. We'd do all within our power to forgive and to restore them. We all fail because we are subject to our fallen human nature. Don't it just make sense that, since we all fail, since we all are flawed in some way and to some degree, we should forgive, help and restore one another?
This little thought may not mean much to some. It probably means nothing to the perfect. To the one who has never failed or has never made a mistake, its probably a source of irritation not worth reading. But for some who know they have failed, it might be a revelation. An encouragement. A source of hope. They are the forgivable. They are the pardonable. And they are already on the road to redemption.
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