FORGIVENESS

What happens if you don’t forgive? What if you think you can’t forgive? During the Korean War, a South Korean Christian and his teenaged son, both civilians, were arrested by North Korean Communists and ordered to be shot. A young communist military leader learned that the older prisoner was in charge of an orphanage that cared for young children, so he decided to spare the father and to just have his son executed. The 19 year old boy was executed in the presence of his father. As the fortunes of war changed, the young military leader was captured by UN forces, was tried, and was sentenced to death. Before the sentence could be carried out, the Christian whose son was executed pleaded for the life of his son’s murderer. The grieved father declared that, “He was young and that he really didn’t know what he was doing. Give him to me and I’ll train him.” The UN tribunal granted the request, and that father took his son’s murderer into his own home and cared for him. That very man became a Christian pastor. If we don’t forgive, we could miss the opportunity to see a life change. So what happens if you don’t forgive? Well, Matthew 6:14-15 says, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”