Every Language: Listening To The Multilingual GodEgzanp

Forgiveness

The act of forgiveness is at the very heart of the Christian faith. Jesus emphasizes it as he teaches us how to pray, linking God's forgiveness of our debt to the debt we must forgive of others in the Lord's Prayer.

We know forgiveness is hard—maybe not to understand, but certainly to live. We also know that actions speak much louder than words. But words can illustrate and shape our actions. This is what it feels like when we step into the hands-on concepts of how other cultures and languages approach forgiveness.

Tzeltal, an indigenous language spoken in Mexico, translates forgiveness as "to lose another's sin out of one's heart"—not their heart, mind you, but your heart. This is echoed by San Blas Kuna (of Colombia and Panama), which translates forgiveness as "erasing the evil heart," or Mískito (spoken in Honduras and Nicaragua) with "take a man's fault out of your heart."

Forgiveness heals our own hearts—it "releases us" as the Lahu language, spoken in East and Southeast Asia, says—but it also extends the potential for mutual healing to the person who was forgiven. Because according to Western Parbate Kham, spoken in Nepal, "holding a grudge" means that you "have someone strung up in your heart," which can only be resolved by forgiving or "unstringing someone."

Who is strung up in your heart today? Whose sin do you need to erase? Where do you need to be released and healed? Ask God to help you "unstring" that person—for their benefit as well as yours—just as God himself has forgiven you.