OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS (DEC 24, 2009)

BY God’s grace, another Christmas season is here with us, offering us the unique opportunity to reflect on the meaning and relevance of the doctrinal dogma and theological truth of God becoming human in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, the whole story of Jesus Christ — from His birth to His death on the Cross at Calvary — is the theological pillar and doctrinal foundation of the Christian faith. And whichever way one looks at it, the message of Christmas is two-fold: On one hand, it reveals some basic and valid truths about God’s love for mankind; on the other, it shows God’s compassion and forgiving nature.
The essence of Christmas is captured in the Holy Book, where the Three Wise Men proclaimed during the birth of Jesus Christ, “Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill towards men”.
But what are the real lessons offered by Christmas? In the first place, it teaches us that the human heart cannot live in isolation, hatred, oppression, terrorism and exploitation. Christmas teaches us to live in peace with God and our fellow human beings. Christmas is also the practice and experience of living in solidarity with those who, because of our social and cultural standards, are deprived and marginalised.
It is a manifestation that God never abandons and forsakes humanity. From the outset of history, God has intervened and interfered in human history. God, because of love and compassion, comes into our daily lives to deliver, redeem, save and love.
As Christians, therefore, we ought to learn to accept and experience the love and compassion of God, which He amply demonstrated through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Second, God expects us to be more compassionate, forgiving and loving one another, especially the poor, the oppressed, the exploited and the destitute.
But the greatest challenge is: As a people and as a nation, do we live by those tenets of love, compassion and forgiveness, especially in our body politic? Although the Scripture clearly warns us in Matthew 6:14,15 that “if we refuse to forgive others, God will also refuse to forgive us”, do we really care? Does it really matter to us?
For many of us, the old Adamic nature will simply not die, and instead of seeking first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness, we have allowed our world to be poisoned and controlled by all kinds of vices, not to mention the abuse of power and authority.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes the best gift we can give ourselves and our dear nation this Christmas is go back to our first love and learn to live one day at a time. We must remember that God is love and Christmas is all about love.
We think the time has come for our political leaders to also walk the talk about reconciliation and forgiveness to set the tone for national cohesion and harmony, two very vital drivers of national development.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that the government and the opposition must find a common ground for collaboration in the national interest.
Let us demonstrate the spirit of Christmas by showing love to all. Should we fail to heal wounds and forgive one another, we risk deepening the polarisation in society and our efforts towards national development will be mere rhetoric.
We take this opportunity to wish our numerous readers and all Ghanaians a Merry Christmas.