Forgiveness Can Save Your Life
Illustration
Stories
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (vv. 31-32)
Every one of us needs to forgive someone and to accept forgiveness from someone. And it is a toss-up as to which is more difficult.
I have collected a number of favorite forgiveness stories over the years. I do not know the source. If I have purloined one of your stories, please forgive me.
A teacher had each of his students bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to class. For every person these students refused to forgive in the course of their daily lives, they were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in a plastic bag. Some of their bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.
They were then told to carry this bag with them everywhere for one week, putting it beside their beds at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at school. The hassle of lugging this around with them made it clear what a weight they were carrying emotionally and spiritually by not being willing to forgive. Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. It was a metaphor for the price they paid for holding onto their anger.
There was an old rancher, tough and mean. One day one of his cowboys was caught stealing. When he was dragged before the rancher and the old rancher looked down on him, the cowboy trembled in his boots. “Hang him,” said the rancher, “It will teach him a lesson!”
Time came for the old rancher to die. He found himself before his maker. When God looked down from his throne, the old rancher trembled in his boots. “Forgive him,” said the Lord, “it will teach him a lesson.”
A British company conducted a worldwide poll of language translators to discover the top ten hardest words to translate from their native language. After the votes were tallied, it was agreed that the hardest word to translate is found in the Bantu language spoken in the Congo. The word is “ilunga,” which means “a person who will forgive any abuse for the first time, tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.”
Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times but seventy – seven times…”
Jesus uses hyperbole to help us move beyond ordinary expectations. A person who forgives twice is called “ilunga.” A person with the ability to forgive an unlimited number of times is called a follower of Jesus.”
One of my favorite forgiveness stories was in a Dear Abby column that I clipped from our local newspaper years ago. It was based on a question Abby raised about “whether a baby shower should be given for an unwed mother-to-be.”
A woman from Rochester wrote in to say that the question “revived a long-forgotten memory:”
“In 1962, I was seventeen and had just graduated from high school… In those days, most unwed mothers were sent away to have their babies, then give them up for adoption so that no one in the family would be embarrassed. I chose to stay home and keep my baby.
“I’m sure my parents were embarrassed and disappointed in me. The baby’s father and I were immature, and a silly quarrel had caused our breakup. I was so depressed that I considered suicide on a daily basis.
“In my seventh month of pregnancy, thirty women from my office gave me a baby shower! I can’t begin to tell you how much it meant to me to have those wonderful women shower me with their good wishes and much needed gifts. They literally saved my life and my baby’s life.
“The shower turned my life around. After that, I was able to hold my head up. When my son was a year old, his father and I got together and were married.”
Sometimes it takes a village to provide the forgiveness needed to save a life.
Every one of us needs to forgive someone and to accept forgiveness from someone. And it is a toss-up as to which is more difficult.
I have collected a number of favorite forgiveness stories over the years. I do not know the source. If I have purloined one of your stories, please forgive me.
A teacher had each of his students bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to class. For every person these students refused to forgive in the course of their daily lives, they were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in a plastic bag. Some of their bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.
They were then told to carry this bag with them everywhere for one week, putting it beside their beds at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at school. The hassle of lugging this around with them made it clear what a weight they were carrying emotionally and spiritually by not being willing to forgive. Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. It was a metaphor for the price they paid for holding onto their anger.
There was an old rancher, tough and mean. One day one of his cowboys was caught stealing. When he was dragged before the rancher and the old rancher looked down on him, the cowboy trembled in his boots. “Hang him,” said the rancher, “It will teach him a lesson!”
Time came for the old rancher to die. He found himself before his maker. When God looked down from his throne, the old rancher trembled in his boots. “Forgive him,” said the Lord, “it will teach him a lesson.”
A British company conducted a worldwide poll of language translators to discover the top ten hardest words to translate from their native language. After the votes were tallied, it was agreed that the hardest word to translate is found in the Bantu language spoken in the Congo. The word is “ilunga,” which means “a person who will forgive any abuse for the first time, tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.”
Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times but seventy – seven times…”
Jesus uses hyperbole to help us move beyond ordinary expectations. A person who forgives twice is called “ilunga.” A person with the ability to forgive an unlimited number of times is called a follower of Jesus.”
One of my favorite forgiveness stories was in a Dear Abby column that I clipped from our local newspaper years ago. It was based on a question Abby raised about “whether a baby shower should be given for an unwed mother-to-be.”
A woman from Rochester wrote in to say that the question “revived a long-forgotten memory:”
“In 1962, I was seventeen and had just graduated from high school… In those days, most unwed mothers were sent away to have their babies, then give them up for adoption so that no one in the family would be embarrassed. I chose to stay home and keep my baby.
“I’m sure my parents were embarrassed and disappointed in me. The baby’s father and I were immature, and a silly quarrel had caused our breakup. I was so depressed that I considered suicide on a daily basis.
“In my seventh month of pregnancy, thirty women from my office gave me a baby shower! I can’t begin to tell you how much it meant to me to have those wonderful women shower me with their good wishes and much needed gifts. They literally saved my life and my baby’s life.
“The shower turned my life around. After that, I was able to hold my head up. When my son was a year old, his father and I got together and were married.”
Sometimes it takes a village to provide the forgiveness needed to save a life.
