Forgiving those who have wronged us can truly be a very challenging experience, yet it is required of us, as we see in the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount.
Max Lucado shares the story of some Moravian missionaries who went to the Eskimos to tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The missionaries struggled to find a word in their language that would express the concept of forgiveness. They finally selected the twenty-four-letter word that forms the title for this article: issumagijoujungnainermik, which literally means, "Not being able to think about it anymore."
Imagine a culture that does not need the word "forgiveness," as apparently was true of this tribe of Eskimos. Wouldn't such a society be wonderful?
Someone has said that the Sermon on the Mount is the Constitution of the Kingdom of God on Earth and the Beatitudes are the Preamble to the constitution. It is certainly the world's most famous sermon, and I am certain that the Savior wants us to apply its principles to our life. One of those principles is forgiveness.
I like what William Arthur Ward had to say, "Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting."
Let me encourage you to read the Sermon on the Mount again and to reflect upon its teachings. (See Matthew 5-7.) It will stir you, because it presents a challenging lifestyle, but one that is attainable, because the One who uttered these words lives within us. Because He does, it is possible for Him to live out these words through us.
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:28-29).
After rereading this great Sermon, I believe it is possible to forgive others in such a way that we won't be able to think about the offense anymore.
So, let's join the Eskimos in walking out their concept of issumagijoujungnainermik.
