Heart Of The Matter

The really great thing about songs, I think, is that no matter what the original intent of the song might have been a little piece of it can take on a life all it's own for me at different times.

Don Henley's song, Heart Of The Matter, is about a guy who's lost the love of his life. He doesn't know what to do and he's really been trying to figure it out. But the chorus in particular is speaking to me in a very different way. At it's core, the song is about forgiveness.

I've been trying to get down
to the heart of the matter.
But my will gets weak,
and my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness...

The Bible has a lot to say about forgiveness. In Matthew chapter 18:21-35 Jesus tells the parable of the unmerciful servant. In the story a king wanted to settle accounts with his servants but had mercy on one servant who owed much but couldn't pay. The servant promised to pay it in full so the king had mercy on him and just canceled the debt. But the servant turns around and demands payment on a debt from another servant and when the second servant promises to pay in full, the first servant refuses and his the second thrown in jail! When the king heard what happened, he called the first servant in and threw him in jail and had him tortured until he could repay his debt since he wouldn't show another the same mercy shown to him.

Through Jesus, God has agreed to cancel the debt we owe for our sin. What he asks in return is that we show that same love and mercy to others. I know I've had times in my life when I didn't want to have mercy on someone...when I wanted to see them punished to the fullest. I'm not proud of it, but I have to be honest and there are times when that's been my heart. Forgiveness requires us to remember exactly what we deserve, exactly why we deserve it, and exactly how we're going to escape that fate. We can't help but have forgiveness in our hearts for anyone else when we remember that.