Getting Free

Biologists named them Bonnet and Crossbeak, two California Grey whales that were trapped under the ice. This happened around Barrel, Alaska, sixty miles from the Arctic Ocean back in 1988. The whales had miscalculated the weather and found themselves trapped under the ice. If not for the Eskimos, the whales would not have been able to get air and would not have survived. They were, however, trapped and not able to get back to the ocean. The Eskimos first started helping by breaking the ice with their chain saws and long poles. The newspapers followed with interest. However, as hard as everyone worked, it still became apparent they would never make the sixty miles without some additional help. Luckily more support came in the form of an 11-ton arcamedian screw-tractor that rode on two giant pontoons. It broke up the ice, but it was still too slow. Next came the National Guard, who brought in two CH54 sky crane helicopters that dropped 5-ton concrete bashers on the ice mile after mile. Then the Russians came with two ships, one 11 stories tall. It was a joint effort of the US Navy and the Russians, and finally, the whales were freed as the exhausted creatures swam to the sea.

Just as the whales finally broke free of the restricting ice and were able to swim into the open sea, so is forgiveness to those who carry the hurts of unforgiveness. The Apostle Paul mentions the need for forgiveness to live free:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12-14).

I want to suggest three areas that we all need forgiveness: First, we need to get free of the wrong I have done. This is the wonder of God’s forgiveness; no matter what I have done, God will forgive me if I am repentant and ask for forgiveness. The second is, getting free of the wrong done to me. This is the area that becomes obvious in our lives as we grow older. We simply can’t get past the hurts done to us by others. Forgiveness helps us do that even when those who hurt us are not acknowledging what they have done. Thirdly, getting free of the good I have done. Believe it or not, getting over the good I have done is an obstacle. We somehow believe the good balances out the bad—it doesn’t. We all need God’s forgiveness, the murderer, and the good moral person because we are all sinners. Finally, we can be free to Focus on Christ as Paul said to the Philippians. He is the prize for which we are running this race of life.