The Shack is a parable about one man’s healing encounter with God.
Part of Mack’s healing journey is forgiving his father (an alcoholic who abused him) and his young daughter’s murderer.
The underlying theme of this book is that Mack will not find freedom from the great sadness (how he describes the depression that encompasses him after his daughter’s death) UNTIL he forgives, with God’s help.
Forgiveness is an issue that we all deal with.
We all need to be forgiven of something, and we all have people in our lives that need to be forgiven by us.
For some people, this is harder than for others.
I can think of some people who have endured awful abuse, for whom forgiveness must be a great challenge.
I think that William P. Young and the book The Shack can speak to people like this, as he himself endured awful abuse as a child, and has found healing and freedom with God in Christ.
I don’t pretend that this is easy – no 3 steps for forgiving the unforgiveable – but I do believe that the only place that we can move towards healing and freedom is through our relationship with God.
We can meet Him at “the shack” in our lives and slowly, painfully work through the stuff with Him.
This Sunday I will be speaking on the subject of forgiveness.
We will consider Matthew 26 where Jesus announces our renewed relationship (covenant) with God through His sacrifice, one that brings us forgiveness for our sins.