Wednesday, July 15
Restoring Relationships Through Forgiveness
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
When Pete Peterson was appointed the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, his friends asked him how he could return to the country where he had been held as a P.O.W. for six years during the Vietnam War. He replied, "I'm not angry. I left that at the gates of the prison when I walked out in 1972. I just left it behind me and decided to move forward with my life."
What if Peterson had remained bitter and unforgiving toward his captors? That would have prevented him from building new bridges of friendship and diplomacy between two nations nearly three decades later. And the same can happen to us. But if we are "kind to one another [and] tenderhearted" toward those who have hurt us, there is no way to remain bitter and unforgiving. The key to forgiving others is to contemplate how God has forgiven us. We were God's enemies, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Had he not done so, we would have been separated from Him for all eternity.
Do you have an enemy—someone you feel has done you wrong? Do for them what God did for you: forgive.
Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Ron McManus
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Song of Solomon 3:1 - 8:14
*Quote: Ray Pritchard, Something New Under the Sun. Moody Publishers, 1998.
