Sometimes I look at the stars.
It’s amazing how easy they are to miss when you’re not paying attention. It baffles me how in the midst of a dark painted night sky we can forget to look beyond the void above us…we look past all the mini- bright-glowing torches that give the void borders and definition.
It’s there… we just have to look.
Of course the reality of stars is that many of them that we are seeing have already died. You see, as far as we know light is the fastest traveling thing in the universe…but it’s not infinitely fast. It takes time for the light of a star, which could originate thousands of light years away from us, to travel and reach us here on earth.
So we’re seeing some of these stars as they were a long time ago, not how they really are today.
When I think about this truth I can’t help but see the same thing happening in the world around me…to me…and through me. Like the stars that we stop to see…we bleed this truth I just mentioned to certain people in our lives at times.
We see them for who they were…and not who they truly are today.
It’s possible to run down a hundred paths when considering why we see a person the way we do…and ultimately why we see some defined by their past. Was she immature? Did he bully you? Did he steal from you? Did she lie to you? Did he have an affair? Did she leave you? Was he mean to you? Did he abuse you and take advantage of you?
You see, there are a lot of variables one could consider, and maybe the negative action taken didn’t even happen to you personally. Maybe it happened to a family member or friend…or a friend of a friend…or it’s a situation you read about on facebook or someone’s blog. No matter the case a person’s past actions can influence us to view them in the shades of their former self.
They’ll never grow up…they’ll always be a bully…a thief…a liar…a cheat…a deserter…a cruel abuser with no care but for themselves. We see some people this way and maybe rightfully so…maybe we’re right and that person chooses to never change…they instead fall deeper into themselves and into the destructive lifestyle they’ve created.
But what if they don’t?
What if somewhere along the way they do change? What if at some point this person looked at their life and their past and realized just how much they had screwed up?
What if this revelation inspired and motivated them to change….not for you…not for the friend or family member close to you that they hurt…but for themselves…and most importantly for God and His purpose for their life. What if they aspire to be something greater than their past? Can we accept it? Can we accept their desire to change? Does it even matter?
Let me be clear, it’s not about you or me going to this person and cheering them on and becoming their best friend. There are consequences to bad choices no matter what the circumstance and a separation from this person in your life can be very normal and healthy for both of you. That’s not to say some sort of friendship couldn’t be restored or formed, God can accomplish anything through our willingness…but in this situation you two becoming buddies is certainly not required.
But what I am talking about is you’re (our) willingness to forgive and show grace. To accept this person’s desire to change and not join in with others that might want to continue pulling him down because of his past. The reality is in that situation, the only person that gets dragged down…is you and anyone else that refuses to believe that change and growth is actually possible in another person.
Remember the question I asked two paragraphs ago?
Does it matter?
Yes, it does…to you.
Some of you may find that statement crazy town logic…but let me be completely honest brothers and sisters…nothing robs a person’s God given purpose and quality of life, like un-forgiveness. It breeds and dilutes the reality of grace. And I can’t begin to tell or adequately describe the true beauty of grace in my own life and how God desires for you to experience the same in your own.
By not forgiving…by not believing that God can make someone a new person (2 Corinthians 5:17) beyond their past…we are taking away from what Christ died for on the cross.
In the end, we have to consider how we are allowing someone else’s sin; past or present, to define us in our own lives right now…because it will if we let it. Bitterness…hate…unhappiness…these are all products of a life unwilling to forgive.
It’s not about what they (we) deserve…it’s about being able to walk in this world and not be seen for who we were yesterday…but for who we are today.
That’s the beauty of grace.
That’s the truth beyond the stars.
