Relive Or Forgive

CONCLUSION: Corrie Ten Boom was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II because her family provided a hiding place for Jews when they were being arrested. She and her sister Betsy were sent to Ravensbruk where horrible torture, rape, and death occurred on a regular basis. Betsy died in the prison camp, but Corrie miraculously survived. She became an effective Christian author and speaker. In 1947 she was invited to speak in Munich, Germany. That evening, she spoke on the topic of forgiveness–how God buries our sins in the depths of the sea. After her talk she was approached by a man who looked familiar to her. With horror she recognized him as one of the cruelest guards at the concentration camp. She remembered the shame of walking naked in front of this very man. Suddenly all the fear and hatred returned in a flash. He said to her, “In your talk you mentioned Ravensbruk. I was a guard there. But since that time, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from you as well.” He held out his hand to Corrie and said, “Will you forgive me?” Corrie wrote about that encounter: “It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. I stood there with coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ‘Jesus, help me!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’ And so, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. As I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm and sprang into our joined hands. Then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’ For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.” We can have a difficult time letting go of the past. Even though some of these hurts happened so many years ago, we talk about them like they happened yesterday. That’s how fresh they are in our mind. Our past can rent way too much space in our heads and hearts. We need to become free from all that garbage. Since I can’t reverse the damage I’m not making anything better by reliving it. An unwillingness to forgive disrupts our fellowship with God. It steals the joy of knowing His forgiveness in our lives. The word forgiveness means, “to release.” Let’s make a choice today to release ourselves from the bondage of unforgiveness. Let’s not relive; let’s forgive.