Forgiveness, With Accountability

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(1) Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. (2) It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. (3) So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.”’ (Luke 17:1-3)

In Luke 17, Jesus gives His disciples a lesson that, while it points to the proper treatment of children (and what should happen to those who purposely harm them), it is also a message on forgiveness with accountability.  In verse 1, Jesus admits there are going to be things that cause people to sin; in today’s society it is almost impossible not to see something sinful on a daily basis.  Unless you live like a hermit with no internet or TV, and avoid your mailings and those in local restaurants and department stores, you cannot avoid it.  Jesus warns those who bring such sinful ideas to the forefront; it is sinful to do so and there are consequences to actions.  Jesus also tells his Followers to rebuke those who do so, but it must be done not out of retribution but in love for them to repent.

God had done this very thing in 2 Samuel 12, when He sent Nathan to rebuke David for the sins of lust, adultery, lies, and murder.  David, upon Nathan’s rebuke, confessed his sins and repented.  As Jesus mentioned, if someone, when they are confronted with what they did wrong repents and repudiates their sinful actions, forgive them.  Nathan told David, after David repented, that the Lord forgave him for his sins, but there were still consequences resulting from his sins.  There would be the death of the ‘love child’ between Bathsheba and David after his birth, turmoil within David’s family, his son Absalom would eventually attempt to overthrow David and sleep with David’s concubines (or wives).  This was how God held David accountable for his sins. 

Accountability is not always so pronounced as David had to go through.  It is sometimes simply the admission of wrongdoing to others, the act of contrition and the request of forgiveness from others.  For someone who criminally harms someone, accountability is a prison sentence; we can forgive the criminal yet expect accountability in the criminal serving the sentence.  Like the ‘meek is weak’ train of thought, ‘forgiveness without accountability’ is not correct.  We should forgive as we seek repentance.  We can forgive first, and should, but in the case of personal harm, if there is not repentance we need to turn away from those who have not repented in the hopes of them eventually repenting, and if they do not, then by avoiding them their influence toward you is muted.