Repentance, Restitution, Rehabilitation

Forgiveness seems so cheap these days, the simple I'm sorry followed by the ever more trivial- it's cool. I feel like the depth is gone, left to a people that would rather"move on" than walk through it together. Forgiveness is a sacred priviledge, a moment that man gets to experience an attribute shared by God and God alone. No other creature has an opportunity to comprehend the magnitude of the act of forgiveness. We are conscious of all the offenses and consequences, we are aware of the depth of pain and still we are asked to say in essence, your relationship to the person is more important than the wrong done to you. We are expected to value others more than ourselves and our situation. We are told to love. This seem so unfair till we realize that there is an expectation that is often overlooked or passed over. The responsibility of the one who caused pain, the forgiven one, to repent, bring restitution, and rehabilitate- now we have a sacred and just balance.

To repent, turn away from a previous path, implies a heart switch. Once headed in a direction now your heart has completed the 180 and is going in the opposite direction. If your heart is now set in a direction to restore a relationship and set that course you must then move to pay back, make right what damage you physically cause in order to restore that person financially, physically, even their reputation, if your heart is right about going all the way the effort will seem right- not easy. Then the final step, rehabilitation, an on-going process to make a new life habit in the direction of obedience. This part continues on till it is a part of you and your character. No longer a cause of pain and strife but to be a giver of hope and life. A true redemption of your entire being.

So now we see the theft of true restoration through forgiveness in the " I'm over it and move on" model. We are left empty of the move of God. We rob our brothers with the simple "move on" or "I'm over it" there is really so much more, so much on both sides of the equation that we are shorted because we lack courage, and truth. No wonder we cry out like Isaiah- woe to me for I am undone. Our process of reconciling as brothers and sisters is too shallow, too instant- just add water and mix, and very, very undone. I guess God knew best... we need time to heal and process to finish and leave it done and right.