Forgiveness Ensures Freedom

I have a friend who, at times, has introduced me to others with an added statement of being a ‘spectacular sinner’. While not something I’m proud of, it does a good job of expressing the person I once was and explaining my level of sin in a way that anyone can understand. It seems I’m in fairly good company.

I just read an article about Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson in Pivot Point Magazine. Phil’s life before Jesus was just like mine, filled with all types of sin. His pastor, Bill Smith, said Phil was a ‘top notch sinner’. Now don’t get me wrong, this is certainly not about glorifying sin, but hopefully helps you understand the power of forgiveness. Phil’s life is pretty good these days and it’s all because he changed and received forgiveness.

The best part of my story is the forgiveness and restoration I received from my Savior and family. The feeling you experience from being forgiven is nearly impossible to express in words, especially when what you did was really terrible. This was the case for me when my family forgave me for all of my sins against them. Experiencing that level of forgiveness changed me forever. I owe Him everything.

Is there someone you need to talk about forgiveness? If so, pray and ask the Father what He would have you do. Remember, it’s our responsibility to ask for forgiveness or forgive. How the other person reacts is up to them.

Blessings

Forgiveness Ensures Freedom
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:15).

Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) was born in Amsterdam and raised in the Dutch Reformed Church. When the Nazis came to power in the late 1930s, Corrie and her family hid Jews behind a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom. In 1944, Corrie’s family was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück, one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. There, Corrie’s entire family died. Corrie herself was scheduled for execution – but she was released shortly before the end of World War II because of a clerical error.

Corrie concluded that God had saved her for a purpose. She committed her life to preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, speaking in churches, tent meetings, and open-air rallies. At one meeting in Germany in 1947, she taught on God’s forgiveness. Afterwards, a man came up to her and introduced himself as a former Ravensbrück guard – but Corrie needed no introduction. She remembered him well. He was notorious for his cruelty.

“I’ve become a Christian since the war,” he said. “I know God has forgiven me for the horrible things I did, but I would like to hear it from you. Could you tell me that you’ve forgiven me, too?” He put out his hand.

Corrie stood there for what seemed an eternity, unable to think of anything but the horrors this man had committed. Then she remembered the words of Jesus that required her to forgive ANY sin. She silently prayed, “Jesus, help me!” …then she took the man’s hand and cried out, “I forgive you, brother!” She later recalled, “I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

That was the defining moment in Corrie’s ministry. Over the years that followed, she took the Christian gospel to more than sixty countries around the world and changed hundreds of thousands of lives through her speaking, writing, and the motion picture The Hiding Place, based on her autobiography.

If we want to be used in a great way by God, we must be willing to forgive those who may be a great source a pain in our lives.

Is there someone who needs your forgiveness today?