READ: Luke 6
THINK: A seminary student earned his way through school driving a bus on Chicago’s south side. One day a gang of young thugs boarded the bus and refused to pay the fare. The young man spotted a policeman, stopped the bus, and reported them. The officer made them pay, but then left. After the bus rounded a corner, the thugs beat the driver severely.
The gang members were rounded up, brought to trial, and found guilty. As soon as their sentences were announced, however, the student asked the judge if he could serve their jail terms for them. The judge and gang members were astounded. “It’s because I forgive you,” he explained. The request was denied, but in the months that followed, the student visited the young men in jail and led several of them to faith in Jesus Christ.
When Joseph’s brother stood before him in Egypt asking for food, Joseph faced a great test. Years before, these men had planned to kill him, but they changed their minds and sold him into slavery. Now Joseph was in a position of power and could take revenge, but because he trusted God’s sovereignty he offered them forgiveness.
Have you been wronged? Just as you trusted Christ to forgive you, ask Him for grace to forgive others. Forgiveness is Christianity in action!
– Haddon Robinson in Our Daily Bread
PRAY: Ask God to reveal to you the person or people in your life whom you need to forgive, and pray that he’ll help you extend forgiveness.
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