And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had on you? And in his anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you,

if you do not forgive your brother from the heart.

Matthew 18:33-35, ESV

As I write this, an attempt was made on former President Trump's life at a political rally. At least one innocent bystander was killed, and the would-be assassin was also killed. President Trump's ear was grazed by one of the bullets but appears to be okay. However, I don't think you can say the same for our nation as we have become a people bitterly divided with hatred and a seemingly complete lack of forgiveness.

And this is tragic, because if we cannot learn to stop being ruled by hatred and desires for revenge, then we are doomed. The reason for this is clear from the passage we read above: Those who do not forgive their fellow man from the heart will be lost. 

This does not seem fair to the innocents who have been harmed by wicked men. These victims and families of victims have a hard enough time dealing with the consequences of the sins of wicked men, but to compound this by carrying hatred and bitterness makes it all the worse. It robs us of our peace, as when we cannot forgive the poison this condition produces just seems to build up until we cannot stand it any longer. We lose sleep, we lose productive thought, and we can even lose our very humanity if we are not careful.

Sin does have tremendous consequences, and it is difficult not to compound these with a desire for revenge But, we must quell this type of response, because if we do not, we become like the man in the example above who lost his very soul because he could not forgive his brother from the heart.

The times we live in seem to be explosive. It is like everyone is situated on their own private powder keg that is ready to go off at any moment. While I do not know anything about the madman who shot the President, it is probably not too far of a reach to conclude that he harbored some bitterness in his heart that festered to the point of hatred and murder. But the hatred did not cease with the assassin's death, for immediately after the shooting, people in the crowd were seen gesturing towards the press with open hostility and words that left little to the imagination.

We are a country divided, to be sure, and the division is reaching a boiling point which will have untold consequences if left unchecked. Of course we have every right to be angry, but Scripture is clear on this: We are not to sin in our anger, and this is something that is hard to do. So, we will probably continue to spiral downward as a nation during this political cycle. People really do seem to have lost their love for one another, and the repercussions for this loss of affection will certainly take its toll.

The question is what kind of a nation will we have left after the bitterness passes? Sometimes I wonder if we will even have a nation left at all, for people really do seem to be at the end of their ropes and are becoming heedless of the consequences for doing so.

But we, my brothers and sisters, cannot be that way. for such a life devoid of mercy is like an unchecked cancer. It will simply continue to grow and grow until finally it has consumed the whole body. It is time that we got ahold of our emotions, and it is time for us to start loving one another again. I am not saying that we should become permissive of sin to the point that we lose our sight of needed justice, but I am saying that we learn to be a bit more forgiving as we exercise that justice. For God has plainly stated that He will not forgive anyone who is not willing to forgive others.

And when you think about it, we need that forgiveness. Each one of us have committed sins that have caused Jesus to die on that cruel cross. Perhaps each one of us needs to remember that, before we decide that the wrongs that others have committed against us are unforgiveable.