CHOOSING TO FORGIVE

At school, Patrick felt God had chosen him for something special. But what? Later he survived a horrific high school massacre where thirteen people were killed and twenty-four injured, including Patrick. That’s when he began to understand the task he had been given.

Through his long recovery, Patrick learned that clinging to bitterness only makes us worse. God showed Patrick that the key to forgiveness is to stop focusing on what others have done to us and to focus on what Jesus has done for us. Jesus’ prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (LUKE 23:34), fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy of Luke 1:77. And through Jesus’ example, Patrick discovered God’s purpose for him: to show what forgiveness looks like.

While most of us will not go through something this awful, we all have stuff to forgive. Friends gossip about us. Parents fight. We get in trouble over something that wasn’t our fault. How do we move forward? We look to the example of Jesus. Even though He was being murdered, He forgave. It is through Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins that we, ourselves, find salvation, which includes the ability to forgive others. And like Patrick, we can choose to let go of our bitterness as we trust Jesus, and allow ourselves to be examples of God’s forgiveness.