Wednesday, July 15
Restoring Relationships Through
Forgiveness
But I say to
you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who
hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you.
Matthew 5:44
When Pete Peterson was
appointed the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, his friends asked him how he
could return to the country where he had been held as a P.O.W. for six
years during the Vietnam War. He replied, "I'm not angry. I left that at
the gates of the prison when I walked out in 1972. I just left it behind
me and decided to move forward with my life."
What if Peterson
had remained bitter and unforgiving toward his captors? That would have
prevented him from building new bridges of friendship and diplomacy
between two nations nearly three decades later. And the same can happen
to us. But if we are "kind to one another [and] tenderhearted" toward
those who have hurt us, there is no way to remain bitter and
unforgiving. The key to forgiving others is to contemplate how God has
forgiven us. We were God's enemies, "But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8). Had he not done so, we would have been separated from Him
for all eternity.
Do you have an
enemy—someone you feel has done you wrong? Do for them what God did for
you: forgive.
Bitterness is
like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Ron McManus
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Song
of Solomon 3:1 - 8:14
*Quote: Ray
Pritchard, Something New Under the Sun. Moody Publishers,
1998.
Strumenti 
