When Our Unforgiveness Turns To Hate

It’s been an interesting journey for me. I’m in a place now where I never wanted to be. Check that. I’m a man who desperately needed grace, received it from God, received it from many others, but still gets a lot of grief from those who are unwilling to forgive.

So, in a way, I am in place I never wanted to be. I used to be “king of the pulpit.” I thought I could forgive who I wanted, when I wanted. As a pastor, I could look down on the sinner. Looking down on any sinner reminded me that I was still better. Yeah, I was a whole lot better. Like the Ray Carroll from circa 1989-1993 would say, “Yeah, right.”

During my book signing last Sunday, I had a couple of people come up to me and say basically, “Guess what a few people around here are saying about you?” It wasn’t nice. Then someone from work came up to me and told me a few lies that were being spread about me. Then, tonight, I got on Facebook (the mother of gossip spreaders) and saw some wonderful things being said about me.

Now, if it were the Ray Carroll of five years ago, he would have said, “UNBELIEVABLE! How dare they! I’m not going to rest until they apologize to me! And if they don’t, I’m going to make them sorry!”

Well, the Ray Carroll of five years ago has been through a lot. God has made sure of that. My own sin has made sure of that.

Let me share with you a quote from Hershael York, preaching professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was kind enough to be interviewed for my book and in one section, he let me know that fallen pastors need to find brokenness. When they are truly broken, they won’t care what others say about them:

“If you’re genuinely broken to your sin, you realize the people who are all handling it wrong were put in that position because you sinned; you had the choice, they didn’t.”

He was saying that the pastor sinned. He put them in a place of anger and resentment. They reacted. Is their reaction always right? No. Is it sinful? Sometimes.

But the fallen pastor has no right to react to it. He’s the one who put them in that place. His sin created their reaction. Darnit, he’s right. When he spoke those words to me a year ago, I struggled with them a bit. But a few months later, I imbibed them. Now, I live them. When I hear words of scorn or anger toward me, I accept them.

Those people are angry, but I put them there. They need love and grace just like I did back in the day when I sinned. And I will pray they receive it.

What’s more, I used to struggle with Christ’s words in the Lord’s prayer, “forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We get the idea there as well as other places that we won’t be forgiven until we forgive others. I used to have a real big problem with that. I’d say, “Come on. Surely Jesus forgives us no matter what. He’ll forgive me even if I don’t forgive someone else.”

Guess what? The problem isn’t with Christ, it’s with me. When I’m in a state of unforgiveness toward someone, it’s not Jesus’ problem. It’s mine. When I harbor the state of unforgiveness, it’s an attitude that dwells within me. It surrounds me. It overwhelms me. I don’t want to love my brother or sister in Christ. I want them to burn for the sin they’ve committed, despite the fact that Christ has washed it away.

It’s not that Christ can’t forgive me because He isn’t capable. It’s that I’m not capable of receiving the love of Christ because I’m so mired in my own hatred of my brother. I’ve narrowed my thinking to this world and thoughts to anger that I’m not even concerned with the things of God. Christ’s forgiveness isn’t even on my mind. I’d rather think about the judgment of God upon an individual – an individual He’s probably already forgiven – instead of the sin I’ve committed.

Over time, if I can’t deal with it, my unforgiveness turns to something even more dangerous – hatred. It turns away from their sin and turns into an attitude about them. It consumes my life, my soul, my all.

I know this because I used to feel this way about people. I used to deny them grace from my heart. From my life. And it cost me. It cost me fellowship with Christ. And it cost me love towards other as a pastor. And I paid.

Friends, don’t deny others the forgiveness that Christ grants them freely. Find a way to give it to them. Love is a gift that cost Christ His own life, but it is a gift we can give others through our love in Him.

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Fallen Pastor: Finding Restoration in a Broken World is available at Amazon.com and is also available for the Amazon Kindle. It will be available soon at other outlets. Ask your local bookstore about availability.