Forgiveness – February 2020

Proverbs 19:11

This was the third home she had been placed in, but it was by far the best.  The first place she went, they tried to lock her in her room after dark.  They [punished her severely, and even beat her.  She had run away so many times they had to put her back in the orphanage.  The second home was like a hurricane.  Everybody was fighting all the time.  She has called the director of the home for girls in tears, and they had to come to get her.  This new place was different, though.  The people active like they cared.  The fact that she had run away so many times, and that she had been sent to reformatory two times didn’t seem to make a difference to her new folks.  They acted like they trusted her, and when she asked them why, they told her that all the other stuff was in the past.  They would trust her until she gave them a reason not to.  She decided right then and there that she was going to try never to give them any reason.

It is so important for us to forgive people their past sins.  When we mistrust someone because of their past, we apply a stigma to them that they fight all their lives.  It is better to learn to forgive, and to keep forgiving, so that the person can know that there is no judgement which will come from us.  Judgement will come from the Lord.  What should come from us is open and honest love, and the gift of a second chance.

Our prayer should be: “Lord, let me forgive those whom I meet, and grant that I might learn to forgive others as you have forgiven me”.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor John