A Tale Of Two Sinners

When you refuse to forgive someone else, God will turn you over to the tormentors. And in our society, medical science are calling the tormentors, "Bitterness," and "Rage," and "Resentment," and "Ulcers," and "High blood pressure". Those kinds of things do destroy your health. They produce major physical illness. There's a simple statement, "Forgive and live". Say that with me. Forgive and live. Forgive and live. How often shall I forgive? There was a Jewish teaching that if you forgave three times, you were good. So Peter thought he'd impress the Lord and say, "Till seven times," because that really sounded spiritual. And Jesus said, no. "Seventy times seven," which is 490. The message is, you forgive until it becomes a habit.

Now I know you have relatives, not you, but you have relatives that carry clip boards, and say, "Harry, this is number 489. And bless your soul, one more time, and smack right in the kisser, I'm going to get you". You say, "There are not people like that". Oh, yes, there are. Don't keep records of anybody's faults but your own, and you'll find that you have very few to keep. The power of forgiveness can restore your home.

This is a story, a true story, of a rebellious young man who broke the law and was sent to prison for eight years. He knew that his parents were deeply hurt by his foolish deed and shamed by his imprisonment. As times past, he didn't know whether his dad would let him come home again after he was released from prison. So, he wrote a letter to his mother stating that he's going to be released in a few days and would take the train home. And in the letter, he said, "If you and dad will forgive me and let me come home again, please tie a piece of bed sheet in the oak tree by the railroad track, and I'll get off the train. If I do not see the ribbon of cloth in the tree, I will not get off the train. And I will never contact you again".

The day came for his release from prison. And he walked to the train station, and he bought a ticket. And with every turn of the wheels, the tension mounted in his heart and in his mind. "Would my parents forgive me? Would my dad forgive me?" Wondering if that cloth ribbon would be tied in the tree, as the train rounded the bend that led to their farm, he could not stand it any longer. Fearing he would be rejected and unforgiven, he asked the man riding next to him, "Would you please look out the window at the tree that's next to the railroad track and tell me if you see a cloth ribbon tied to it".

The man looked out the train window at the tree. And the boy asked him, "Do you see it"? The man said, "No. I don't see one ribbon: I see hundreds of ribbons on every branch of that tree. I see them tied to the fence. I see them on the clothesline. I see them on the back porch. There's so many white ribbons on that farm, it looks like it snowed. What does it mean"? He shouted through tears, as he leaped off the train, "It means I've been forgiven! I'm going home! I'm going home! I'm going home"!