The Christian Art of Forgiveness
Larry Fitzgerald via Bulletin Digest

There are those who are going to hurt us. But as Christians, we are not to hold grudges, for these become heavy weights to pull us down and away from God. In the "Lord's Prayer," Jesus taught us to ask God for forgiveness as we have forgiven those who sin against us (Matthew 6:12). In fact, Jesus' only comment on this model prayer is this: "If we don't forgive others, God will not forgive us" (Matthew 6: 15).

If we are to be like Him, we must have a forgiving spirit.

In Muskogee, Oklahoma, on an old church building that primarily serves native American Indians, is this inscription on a stone:

"We have been broken up and moved six times. We have been despoiled of our property. We thought that when we moved across the Missouri River and had paid for our homes in Kansas, we were safe, but in a few years the white men wanted our country. We had good farms, built comfortable houses, and big barns. We had schools for our children and churches where we listened to the same gospel the white man listened to. The white man came into our country from Missouri and drove our cattle and horses away and if our people followed them, they were killed.

"We try to forget these things, but we would not forget that the white man brought us the blessed gospel of Christ, the Christian's hope. This more than pays for all we have suffered. We forgive everything else."

– Charles Journeycake, Chief of the Delawares, April, 1886

This should be our spirit, the spirit of love which made Christ say on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). If He could forgive those who falsely accused him and spat upon him and, nailed spikes into his hands and feet, surely we should forgive those who mistreat us.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5 :7).

CHOICES
Joseph Epstein

All men and women are born, live, suffer and die. What distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about. We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choiceless-ness, we do choose how we live.