"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." Nelson Mandela
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Martin Luther King, Jr
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and
tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps
you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants
to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.” Jesus
in Matthew 5:38-40
Well, those are all great quotes by some pretty lofty
people, and by Jesus who is perfect. Can we really expect to be that good?
After all, we are just regular people. I know left to my own instincts, I might
just want the other person to suffer just a bit; it only seems fair, because
after all, in my opinion… they started it – right!
Consider the atrocity we have recently witnessed in the news at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston. Almost immediately we witnessed friends and relatives of the slain voicing truly sincere forgiveness. It makes me ask myself, could I do the same. My gut says not if it were my child, my spouse, my parent. So how can those closely affected by the shooting do so? Now look at the next quote.
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” ― Søren Kierkegaard
We can only truly forgive such hate through Christ. Our daughters live in the Charleston area, and in the aftermath they say that there is truly a sense of love, forgiveness and compassion towards one another that crosses the boundaries of race, gender and age. This true forgiveness that started at the AME Church and is spreading out to the region comes through a true relationship and reliance on Christ and a living out of that faith. If a church family faced with such evil can forgive by relying on God, I believe we all can, but it doesn’t come from ourselves, it has to start with God.
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