Matthew 18: 21-22

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Romans 12: 17

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Matthew 6:14-15

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Jesus states over and over in the Bible that we must forgive all who sin against us. He also states that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us. When I first became a Christian, I found that a little hard to believe. Was I really supposed to forgive people who deliberately hurt my feelings and said bad things about me? Was I really supposed to forgive the drunken man who murdered my precious little seven-year-old nephew, Al Jackson? Even though he had 5 prior arrests on drunk driving charges? Was I really supposed to forgive all those childhood hurts, which traveled with me to my adult life? Was I really supposed to forgive business colleagues who made my life miserable? Maybe I could forgive some things -- but those things that really altered my life?

Philippians 4: 13

13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Indeed I learned through my Bible and through my pastors and through a Christian psychiatrist at a Christian Medical Meeting in Atlanta that forgiveness of EVERYBODY who has sinned against me is necessary for a Christian. Dr. Franklin Jones, who gave a wonderful speech at this meeting in Atlanta, said it was necessary to be a whole person. He related that he had been a "head psychiatrist" at a prison in California, a really big dog in that psychiatric world. Then, he accepted Christ as his personal savior and found out that the main problems that made these prisoners arrive at their destination was that they were not Christians and that they had been abused as children. He began to tell them about Christ and try to lead them to the Lord. He said that the next step for their lives was forgiving either their mother or their father, or whoever had abused them. He related that some could do both things; some could do neither. So he left his job of being a prison psychiatrist and went into a private Christian psychiatric practice.

He stood in front of this group of Christian physicians and dentists and their wives and husbands and said, "The number one ill of the world is non-forgiveness of either one's mother or one's father, whoever abused you as a child." Abuse can be of many types, of course, he explained. He also talked of the necessity of forgiving all who have sinned against you in any way to be a mentally healthy person. I was a baby Christian at that point in time and had the privilege of sitting on a tour bus with Dr. Jones later in the day. I believe that meeting didn't "just happen." He prayed with me to forgive all my childhood pain and all those who had wronged me up until that time in my life. I just told him there were things in my life which hurt so deeply I did not think I could forgive them. He replied " Of course, you can't forgive them yourself. You are just a human being. But, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sins, can forgive them for you. Would you like for me to pray for you and ask Jesus to forgive some people for you?" I kind of looked at him and said "OK" and bowed my head. He then prayed for Jesus to forgive those people that I had not forgiven because the pain was too great. Jesus forgave those people for me and it really was forgiveness. I did not have to do it at all myself. I really had forgiven them through the blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross. Well, actually, Jesus had done it for me but it was real and it worked.

Life has not been the same since that point. When the drunk driver hit little Al, I was in California. After a very long trip back to Montgomery, I was the final family member to arrive at Jackson Hospital. Dr. Carl Stegall, pastor of First Methodist in Montgomery, called the whole family in for prayer. It seems the whole town was praying for us. Several political candidates had stopped their campaigning in grief for our family. Dr. Stegall, said, "Are you ready to forgive this man who has hit Al?" Most of my family members were Christians and we looked at him through tear stained eyes and said, "We are ready to pray to forgive him." At that time, he prayed the most beautiful prayer in the world and those of my family who were Christians prayed to forgive him. Little Al was in intensive care on life support. We also knew that our precious, brilliant little Al was going on very shortly to be with the Lord. Since I had already learned that Jesus could forgive when I could not, I just had to ask Jesus to forgive this man for me. He did. I will tell you that the State of Alabama tried this man and legal justice was done according to the laws of Alabama. That was the job of the State of Alabama. However, it was the job of our family as Christians to forgive this man. We did.

Luke 23: 34 - Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Jesus asked God to forgive those people who hung him on the cross. I learned this and thought, "He really means for us to forgive others." I was 37 years old when I became a born again Christian. I was a churchgoer all of my life but I was just to stupid to hear the gospel and become a born again Christian. I was taken to church every Sunday of my life and my parents were Sunday School teachers for 50 years each. But I did not listen and hear the word. Joanna was a little girl when we became Christians so she grew up knowing the word and I wanted so desperately to teach her the truths of Christianity. When people would hurt her feelings, I wanted her to always say under her breath, "Lord forgive them they know not what they do." I hope I taught her that.

If you have children, please teach them to forgive those childhood hurts that seem to happen every day, from teasing to being left out to forgiving family things. If you can teach them to forgive everything that hurts them, then they will learn one of God's main lessons in life and they will be so much happier.

I know of so many people who are miserable in their jobs. Please start today by saying in your heart, everytime someone is mean to you, "Lord forgive them, they know not what they do." I promise you will like your job so much more. If you are living in an unhappy family situation, please learn to forgive. I have found if I truly forgive, then I can really live in happiness - not misery - over family situations. Do I always remember to forgive? Of course not. Do I get angry? Of course. Do I get "eaten up with the nasties?" or have "anxiety attacks" over some things that people do to me that I think are not right? I am afraid I must confess that I do.

BACK TO INDEX