Forgiveness is a big word and a tiny word but the act is the same. It’s alright if we forgive a cheating man/husband, it’s alright that we can forgive a ling friend/family or even co-worker, it’s alright if we can forgive a prodigal son/daughter. But, what happens when we have to forgive a murderer, what happens when people have to forgive slavery or genocides and even worse a pedophile. In the news recently, there were two (not 1 but 2) instances where law enforcement came into the wrong person’s house and shot them. Both instances happened in Dallas, TX. One was a young man from what I heard was a beautiful soul who was loved by everyone one he met. I don’t think it mattered whether he knew you or not. The other was a young woman shot while she was playing a game with nephew. The man’s brother and family forgave the officer charged with the crime and wished her healing.. I know this was an act of GOD, because that’s the only way forgiveness in that amount of pain can truly be achieved.
Let it go… A Time to Forgive
Have you ever felt that you could never, ever, forgive someone for what they did to you, or to a loved one? I have. Or that something you’ve done could never be forgiven, you’d messed up so badly that God couldn’t possibly have any further time for you, even that you’d lost your salvation? I’ve done that too, been there, got the T-shirt.
I’m immeasurably thankful that God didn’t leave me wallowing in misery. Through what might seem a random chain of happenings—visiting a bookshop, picking up a book by an author I don’t particularly like, reading a couple of pages I can’t even remember but where the words sprang out with spirit-fueled power and spoke directly to my heart. I knew instantly that I was forgiven, that God loved me with an everlasting love, that all my sins—past, present and future—were covered by his blood and his grace, and that he had a purpose for my life. I’ve needed God’s forgiveness many times since, but that assurance has never left me.
God forgives and he restores; it is the very heart of the Gospel message, the cry of Jesus from the cross—“Father, forgive them…..’
As C.S.Lewis has said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Not that it’s easy. We tend to hold on to grudges, to nurse and nurture them, and it’s not good. Resentment is like poison. Some years ago, I was struck by two situations that happened close together. One was the rape of Jill Saward, whose father was terribly beaten. He forgave the perpetrators from his hospital bed, and walked out of the hospital within a day or two. The other was local man, also terribly beaten and robbed in his own home. His wife never properly recovered and he was filled with bitterness. His broken bones refused to heal, and in a short time he had died of cancer.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
We have to forgive even if we don’t feel it. To quote Corrie ten Boom, ‘Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.’
And we must forgive ourselves, too.
Watch here: ‘I forgive you’: Botham Jean’s brother hugs Amber Guyger after she gets 10 years in prison
Watch here : Woman Was Playing Video Game With Her Nephew When Shot by Fort Worth Police
Phoenix: Live Love Laugh 