The Tenderness of the Forgiven Heart
A Poem by Russ Hjelm
Be kind one to another, softly spake
The holy word sent down through grace alone;
Not clothed in thunder for the proud to quake,
But breathed as mercy from the heavenly throne.
For hearts long hardened by the weight of sin
Grow cold as winter fields bereft of rain,
Till Christ the Lord in tenderness comes in
And breaks the ancient tyranny of pain.
What strength is found within a gentle soul,
What mighty victories through mercy rise;
For wrath may conquer lands from pole to pole,
Yet leave behind the ashes and the cries.
But kindness, born beneath the hand of God,
Moves silently as dawn through shadowed lands,
And where despair and bitter sorrow trod,
It plants the seeds of peace with wounded hands.
How swift are men to treasure every wrong,
To bind offenses close against the breast;
The memory of injury grows strong
And robs the weary spirit of its rest.
A thousand nights the angry mind may wake
To count again the wounds of former years,
Yet every chain revengeful hearts may make
Is forged from secret grief and hidden fears.
The sacred word declares a better way,
A path no earthly wisdom ever planned;
To answer hatred not with fierce display,
But with compassion flowing from the hand.
Not weakness this, nor cowardice of soul,
Nor silence born from terror or despair;
It is the strength of those whom grace makes whole,
The fruit of heaven breathed through humble prayer.
For who can look upon the cross of Christ
And still withhold forgiveness from his kin?
There mercy for the vilest soul sufficed,
There pardon flowed to cleanse the darkest sin.
The Lamb of God beneath the judgment stood,
Though legions waited at His least command;
And while His sacred brow ran down with blood,
He spoke forgiveness o’er the mocking land.
O fearful mystery of love divine,
That He whom all creation should adore
Would bear the curse for hearts as hard as mine
And open wide eternal mercy’s door.
No human hand could purchase such a gift,
No righteous deed could satisfy the cost;
The Son descended all our guilt to lift,
To seek and save the wandering and lost.
And if such grace has reached the sinner’s night,
If heaven’s King has borne our every stain,
How shall forgiven souls deny the light
Or fasten others to their guilt and chain?
The servant pardoned ten thousand debts untold
Yet seized his brother for a trifling sum;
Thus hardened hearts grow merciless and cold
When grace is praised by lips alone and tongue.
The Lord desires a deeper work within,
Not outward forms nor words devoutly said,
But hearts transformed from bitterness and sin,
Where streams of living tenderness are spread.
For anger is a fire that none can tame
When fed by pride and nourished in the soul;
It whispers injury, repeats the shame,
And slowly brings the heart beneath control.
Yet kindness is a lamp in darkened days,
A holy fragrance carried on the wind;
It shines where wounded spirits lose their ways,
And calls forgotten wanderers home again.
A gentle word may raise the fallen man,
A patient hand may heal despairing eyes;
The quiet mercies woven in God’s plan
Often appear to heaven far more wise
Than all the loud achievements earth esteems,
Than monuments exalted high with pride.
For God delights in mercy’s flowing streams
Where truth and humble tenderness abide.
The Savior stooped to wash the disciples’ feet,
Though stars themselves obeyed His sovereign voice;
And in that lowly service was complete
The love that bids the contrite heart rejoice.
Forgiveness is no fleeting, shallow art,
No easy utterance spoken without cost;
It tears the vengeance from the wounded heart
And leaves revenge abandoned at the cross.
The soul must wrestle through the bitter night,
Must lay its treasured sorrows at God’s throne,
Must choose to trust eternal justice right
Instead of claiming recompense its own.
Yet through that struggle peace begins to bloom,
Like lilies rising after winter’s reign;
The mercy planted in the spirit’s room
Turns slowly into freedom born through pain.
For unforgiveness binds with iron thread
The one who clings unto another’s fall;
But grace releases both the living and dead,
And mercy breaks the strongest chains of all.
How many homes lie silent, cold, divided,
Where years of anger stain the passing days;
How many hearts by secret hatred guided
Have wandered far from wisdom’s holy ways.
A careless word becomes a sharpened spear,
A selfish act becomes a wall of stone;
And souls once joined through laughter bright and clear
Now walk through lonely chambers all alone.
Yet still the Lord in patience calls to men,
“Be tenderhearted, merciful, and true.”
Not merely once, but time and time again,
As God in Christ has shown His grace to you.
The measure of the mercy we extend
Reveals the mercy treasured in the heart;
For those whom Christ has named His faithful friend
Will bear His likeness in the smallest part.
The world exalts the strong who strike again,
Who guard their honor with relentless hand;
But heaven blesses those who bear the pain
And trust their cause unto God’s wise command.
For every soul shall one day stand revealed
Before the throne where hidden things are known,
And every wound in secret darkness sealed
Shall be brought forth before the Judge alone.
Then let the weary soul relinquish wrath,
Though pride may cry forgiveness is too late;
For Christ Himself still walks the sorrowed path
And pleads with sinners at the mercy gate.
No hatred carried to the grave can heal,
No vengeance grants the wounded spirit rest;
But kindness born from grace divine is real,
And mercy leaves the trembling conscience blessed.
O may the church once more reflect her King,
Not only through the doctrines she proclaims,
But through the love that causes hearts to sing
And sets abandoned souls ablaze with flames
Of holy gratitude and humble peace,
Where enemies are welcomed as a guest,
Where harsh contentions slowly fade and cease,
And broken hearts in Christ alone find rest.
For this the Son of God came down to die,
That cruel and wandering hearts might be restored;
That rebels who deserved but wrath on high
Might feast forever at the King’s own board.
And those who drink so deeply of His grace
Cannot remain untouched within their soul;
The light of mercy shining from His face
Transforms the fractured spirit into whole.
Then let all bitterness be cast aside,
Let slander perish, let all malice cease;
Let gentleness and truth together abide,
And every household learn the way of peace.
For fleeting are the years allowed to man,
Like morning mist that vanishes by noon;
How vain to waste them clinging where wrath began,
While death approaches silently and soon.
Instead, let every heart remember well
The immeasurable debt once laid on Christ;
The judgment from which grace alone befell,
The blood by which the guilty soul sufficed.
And as the Lord has freely pardoned all
Who come in faith beneath His wounded side,
So may His people hear the sacred call
To walk in mercy, casting wrath aside.
Thus kindness shines with everlasting worth,
A glimpse of heaven granted here below;
A sacred testimony through the earth
That God still causes hardened hearts to grow
Into the likeness of His perfect Son,
Whose mercy neither fails nor fades away.
And when the final victory is won,
Love shall endure beyond the dying day.