I have learned a lot about forgiveness in the last few weeks and months. There are several examples, starting from two months ago, ending this morning, and I’m sure there are more coming in the near future.
When we were in Ukraine two months ago, I learned that our host (I’m keeping names out on purpose) had been dealing with a few hard feelings toward the Russian people in general for the actions of the military in Crimea. This host had been worried when they found out we had Nina (a Russian) on our team. The host realized they had so many Ukrainian friends that harbored hatred toward Russians, and those feelings were leaking slowly into our host’s mind. While we were in Ukraine, that host was able to see the love and Christ-like attitude of Nina, replacing the hard feelings with the realization that not all Russians hate Ukrainians. Our host was able to forgive and move on by talking with Nina, and working through those emotions with a new friend, not a perceived enemy.
A month ago, while in Romania, one of my teammates was prompted to offer forgiveness to her best friend’s ex-boyfriend. When her best friend passed away, the guy said and did some things (she hasn’t told what those “things” were) that were unforgivable. My teammate reached out to him, letting him know she had forgiven him and that she hoped he would find who he is in Christ. She received a message back letting her know that he was now living in Africa with his wife, doing mission work and he could not explain what the forgiveness meant to him. A few weeks later he ended up donating the rest of her funds to get her fully funded.
Just this week, with the short-term groups from Russia, and Germany, including a few Polish guys, we took part in a presentation memorial for the 3380 Jews taken from Bitola to extermination camps in Poland. Our team had cut 3380 pieces of wood, and during this memorial, we set each of these pieces on end, each representing one Jew who has no descendants to remember them. The display was four feet wide and around 80 to 100 feet long. At the end of this presentation, one of the Germans, a 24-year-old who was helping lead the trip, stood looking at the pieces of wood. She was in tears. When I asked her why she was crying, she said, “There were so many of them. This is another reason I can’t be proud of my country.” I didn’t know how to answer that statement. One of the Macedonian youth, a 15-year-old member of our host’s congregation, took her hand and started praying for her. As I watching, I realized that there was forgiveness being extended from one person to another, from one people to another, for tragedy that could not be fixed. The forgiveness and sincerity was incredible to see. A small piece of atonement was achieved in that moment.
This morning, as I was working through something, I came across Colossians 3:13. The second half of the verse caught my attention: “as the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive.” (ESV) God forgave us by dying for us. That means in order to forgive others, we have to die for them. Now that may not be a literal death, but it does at least mean dying in ourselves, even a little bit, to make sure others are forgiven.
God died to forgive us, now we die to forgive others.
#GodIsInControl #redefiningdisciple
#THIRD
