Six months ago, Bill was fired from his work. Today, he is back working in the same company. But his boss is totally surprised when Bill is turning in a superior work. “What happened to make such a difference in you?” the boss asked.
Bill shared: “When I was in college, I was part of a fraternity initiation committee. We placed the new members in the middle of a long stretch of road. I was to drive my car at a great a speed as possible straight at them. The challenge was for them to stand firm until a signal was given to jump out of the way. It was a dark night. I had reached 120 kilometers an hour and saw their looks of terror in the headlights. The signal was given and everyone jumped clear – except one boy.
“I left college after that. I later married and have two children. The look on that boy’s face as I passed over him at 120 kilometers an hour stayed in my mind. I became hopelessly inconsistent, moody, and finally became a problem drinker. My wife had to work to bring in the only income we had.
“I was drinking at home one morning when someone knocked at the door. I opened it to find myself facing a woman who seemed strangely familiar. She told me she was the mother of the boy I had killed years before. She said that she had hated me and spent agonizing nights rehearsing ways to get revenge. I then listened as she told me of the love and forgiveness that had come when she gave her heart to Christ.
“She said, ‘I have come to let you know that I forgive you and I want you to forgive me.’ I looked deep into her eyes that morning, and there I saw the permission to be the kind of man I might have been had I never killed that boy. That forgiveness changed my whole life.”
The Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word “forgive” as giving up “resentment against or the desire to punish.” It also means “pardon; to overlook an offense; to cancel a debt.” Thus, the goal of forgiveness is to let go of a hurt and move ahead with life.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” says a line of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:12). Also in the same vein, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
Was it J. Harold Smith who said, “Never does a man stand so tall as when he foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury”? Arthur W. Pinero adds, “If you have a thing to pardon, pardon it quickly. Slow forgiveness is little better than no forgiveness.”
A soldier had beaten a Christian prisoner until he was only half-conscious, and while he kicked him he demanded, “What can your Christ do for you now?” The Christian quietly replied, “He can give me strength to forgive you.”
“Forgiveness is our command,” C. Neil Strait said. “Judgment is not.” Remember the story of the woman who was caught in adultery, as chronicled in the book of John (8:1-11)? She was brought by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees before Jesus and asked what they need to do for the Law of Moses commanded them to stone adulteress.
Although indirectly, he told the group: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” No one dared; in fact, they went away one at a time until only Jesus was left and the woman. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked.
“No one, sir,” the woman replied. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
This reminds me an anecdote that happened during a Sunday school. The teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She inquired, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?”
There was a short interval of silence and then, from the back of the room, a small spoke up. “Sin,” he said.
“There’s no point in burying a hatchet if you’re going to put up a marker on the site,” Sydney Harris once pointed out. While traveling on a train, a wealthy Jewish merchant treated a poor old man with rudeness and disdain. When they arrived at their common destination, the merchant found the station thronged with pious Jews waiting in ecstatic joy to greet one of the holiest rabbis in all of Europe. The merchant surmised to his chagrin that the poor old man riding in his compartment was this saintly rabbi.
Embarrassed at his disgraceful behavior and distraught that he missed a golden opportunity to speak in privacy with a wise and holy man, the merchant pushed his way through the crowd to find the old man. When he reached the rabbi, he begged his forgiveness and requested his blessing.
The old rabbi looked at him and replied, “I cannot forgive you. To receive forgiveness you must go out and beg it from every poor old man in the world.”
When you forgive, you should also forget. Henry W. Beecher urges, “A forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man.”
Edwin Markham was approaching his retirement years when he discovered that the man to whom he had entrusted his wealth had squandered all the money. The poet’s dream of a comfortable retirement went into oblivion. He started to brood over the injustice and the loss. His anger deepened. Over time, his bitterness grew more intensely.
One day, while sitting at his table, Markham found himself drawing circles as he tried to soothe the turmoil he felt within. Finally, he concluded: “I must forgive him, and I will forgive him.”
Looking again at the circles he had drawn on the paper before, Markham wrote these famous lines: “He drew a circle to shut me out – heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. / But Love and I had the wit to win: we drew a circle that took him in!”
For comments and feedback, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
Bill shared: “When I was in college, I was part of a fraternity initiation committee. We placed the new members in the middle of a long stretch of road. I was to drive my car at a great a speed as possible straight at them. The challenge was for them to stand firm until a signal was given to jump out of the way. It was a dark night. I had reached 120 kilometers an hour and saw their looks of terror in the headlights. The signal was given and everyone jumped clear – except one boy.
“I left college after that. I later married and have two children. The look on that boy’s face as I passed over him at 120 kilometers an hour stayed in my mind. I became hopelessly inconsistent, moody, and finally became a problem drinker. My wife had to work to bring in the only income we had.
“I was drinking at home one morning when someone knocked at the door. I opened it to find myself facing a woman who seemed strangely familiar. She told me she was the mother of the boy I had killed years before. She said that she had hated me and spent agonizing nights rehearsing ways to get revenge. I then listened as she told me of the love and forgiveness that had come when she gave her heart to Christ.
“She said, ‘I have come to let you know that I forgive you and I want you to forgive me.’ I looked deep into her eyes that morning, and there I saw the permission to be the kind of man I might have been had I never killed that boy. That forgiveness changed my whole life.”
The Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word “forgive” as giving up “resentment against or the desire to punish.” It also means “pardon; to overlook an offense; to cancel a debt.” Thus, the goal of forgiveness is to let go of a hurt and move ahead with life.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” says a line of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:12). Also in the same vein, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
Was it J. Harold Smith who said, “Never does a man stand so tall as when he foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury”? Arthur W. Pinero adds, “If you have a thing to pardon, pardon it quickly. Slow forgiveness is little better than no forgiveness.”
A soldier had beaten a Christian prisoner until he was only half-conscious, and while he kicked him he demanded, “What can your Christ do for you now?” The Christian quietly replied, “He can give me strength to forgive you.”
“Forgiveness is our command,” C. Neil Strait said. “Judgment is not.” Remember the story of the woman who was caught in adultery, as chronicled in the book of John (8:1-11)? She was brought by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees before Jesus and asked what they need to do for the Law of Moses commanded them to stone adulteress.
Although indirectly, he told the group: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” No one dared; in fact, they went away one at a time until only Jesus was left and the woman. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked.
“No one, sir,” the woman replied. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
This reminds me an anecdote that happened during a Sunday school. The teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She inquired, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?”
There was a short interval of silence and then, from the back of the room, a small spoke up. “Sin,” he said.
“There’s no point in burying a hatchet if you’re going to put up a marker on the site,” Sydney Harris once pointed out. While traveling on a train, a wealthy Jewish merchant treated a poor old man with rudeness and disdain. When they arrived at their common destination, the merchant found the station thronged with pious Jews waiting in ecstatic joy to greet one of the holiest rabbis in all of Europe. The merchant surmised to his chagrin that the poor old man riding in his compartment was this saintly rabbi.
Embarrassed at his disgraceful behavior and distraught that he missed a golden opportunity to speak in privacy with a wise and holy man, the merchant pushed his way through the crowd to find the old man. When he reached the rabbi, he begged his forgiveness and requested his blessing.
The old rabbi looked at him and replied, “I cannot forgive you. To receive forgiveness you must go out and beg it from every poor old man in the world.”
When you forgive, you should also forget. Henry W. Beecher urges, “A forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man.”
Edwin Markham was approaching his retirement years when he discovered that the man to whom he had entrusted his wealth had squandered all the money. The poet’s dream of a comfortable retirement went into oblivion. He started to brood over the injustice and the loss. His anger deepened. Over time, his bitterness grew more intensely.
One day, while sitting at his table, Markham found himself drawing circles as he tried to soothe the turmoil he felt within. Finally, he concluded: “I must forgive him, and I will forgive him.”
Looking again at the circles he had drawn on the paper before, Markham wrote these famous lines: “He drew a circle to shut me out – heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. / But Love and I had the wit to win: we drew a circle that took him in!”
For comments and feedback, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
