PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 13, 2021

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

In September of 2018, a woman named Amber Guyger entered the apartment of Botham Jean and shot him while he was eating ice cream.  Guyger told the police that she thought she was entering her own apartment which was located in the same building and that Jean was an intruder.  On Tuesday, October 1, a jury found Guyger guilty of murder.  On Wednesday Amber was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Following the verdict Botham’s eighteen year old brother asked to speak.  He told Amber, “I forgive you, and I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you.”  He then went on to wish the best for Amber, even to the point that she not go to jail.  When he was finished he asked, if he could give Amber a hug.  The judge granted his request.  As they hugged, you could see the judge in tears.  A woman watching Brandt’s act of forgiveness was motivated to forgive the person who had killed someone in her life. When interviewed the next day Botham said that he did not want to carry around with him feelings of anger and resentment toward Guyger for the rest of his life.  So he followed Jesus’s command to forgive those who do you harm.

Every so often we hear about a story of those being harmed forgiving those who have done them harm.  In July of 2015, a young man shot nine persons who had welcomed him into their Bible study at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.  The families of the victims forgave the killer and asked that he seek forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

In July of 2019, a woman named Eva Kor died at the age of 85.  She was a Holocaust survivor who after many years of harboring bitterness and hatred forgave those who carried out the Holocaust atrocities, especially Dr. Mengele.   For Eva the power of forgiveness was the avenue in which she experienced healing from her devastating trauma.  Eva was the founder of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, whose mission is to prevent prejudice and hatred through education about the Holocaust.

On the cross Jesus forgave those who were putting Him death.  Throughout His ministry He stressed the importance of forgiveness.  Jesus says in Matthew, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mat. 6:14, 15)  It is not that God does not want to forgive us. He surely does.  Unfortunately, we prevent Him from doing it by holding on to our anger and resentments which in time can become a cancer that consumes our whole being.

Not everyone was as quick to forgive Amber Guyger after the verdict as her brother.  There were protesters outside the courthouse building promoting their causes and continuing their demands for justice.  Similarly, there were many of Eva Kor’s friends who did not agree with her decision to forgive Dr. Mengele.  Instead they clung to the feelings of injustices which they had experienced.

While we may never experience the devastating trauma that the families of Botham Jean, the families of the Emanuel AME church shooting, or Eva Kor experienced, all of us experience slights, injustices, insults, and grievances.  We can choose to dwell on them and nourish them or we can forgive those who have done us harm and let them go.  Some of such feelings can go back to our childhood.  They continue to shape our lives today.  Brandt Jean realized that if he was to move forward and have a rich and productive life his Christians teachings told him he needed to forgive Amber Guyger.   What are you going to do with those feelings which continue to impact your life in a negative way?