Unfinished Business

Last November my father turned 93. We learned this week that he was being assigned to hospice care. End of life stuff. It is, indeed, sad for the family. But not devastating. He has loved the Lord for longer than most of us have lived both in word and in deed and he'll be going home when he leaves us. So we sent out word to the family that time is shorter than we realized and, in the process, a term kept surfacing -- "unfinished business." On one hand, in our family conversations it was, without exception, "I have no unfinished business with Dad." And that speaks well, I think, of both my father and the family. But you get the idea. Often there are things left unsaid, issues left unsettled, and so on at the end of someone's life.

I get why that is for most of the world, but why would it be so for believers? Biblical instructions aren't vague. Take, for instance, Jesus's instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. "If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering" (Matt 5:23-24). Now, I think a lot of us read that backward. We think it refers to when you remember you have something against someone else you. That's not what it says. If you remember that someone else has something against you, go immediately and "be reconciled." Before your next interaction with God. Now! No unfinished business. So what if you have something against someone else? That's even simpler. "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions" (Matt 6:14-15). Forgive. No unfinished business.

We have one basic command for all our interpersonal relationships: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 15:12). That ought to cover it, shouldn't it? If we are to be known by our love for one another (John 13:35), we shouldn't have unfinished business. We ought to be speaking the truth to each other in love (Eph 4:15). We should be demonstrating love to each other. We should be loving sacrificially ... as Christ has loved us. No unfinished business. And I'm confident that a clean slate like that at all times would make our lives much more comfortable.