Forgiving

How do we forgive someone who has wronged us or hurt someone we love?  How can we forgive when we don't feel forgiveness?

Corrie ten Boom, survivor of a women's Nazi concentration camp, wrote: "Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."

For every Christian, forgiveness is a choice.  In order to fully receive God's forgiveness we must willingly extend forgiveness to others.  Through an act of her will, Corrie forgave her persecutors and her sister's murderers.  Jesus forgave humankind of even more.  How can we do less?

Ephesians 4:32  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Luke 17:3-4  So watch yourselves.  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.  If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, "I repent," forgive him.

If the wounds of millions are to be healed,

what other way is there except

through forgiveness?

Catherine Marshall