Modeling God's Love When It's So Tough

We have seen a monumental display of God's mercy this week, and in Dawn Wilson's Spiritual Life UPLIFT, I want us to focus on the grace of forgiveness.

At his bond hearing, Dylann Roff stood in his striped inmate jumpsuit with a blank expression as family members of the victims he admittedly gunned down at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church said over and over again, "I forgive you."

A daughter of Ethel Lance said,

"You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people, but God forgives you, and I forgive you."

To the astonishment of a watching world, relatives offered words of grace. Mercy. Forgiveness.

It was a painful but powerful testimony to the work of Christ in the hearts of those who love Him.

In Commentary magazine, Abe Greenwald, senior editor of Commentary, wrote, "The late [antitheist] Christopher Hitchens formulated (and forever repeated) a superficially clever challenge to people of faith: 'Find one good or noble thing,' he said, 'which cannot be accomplished without religion.' The astonishing rejoinder to Hitchens comes now from the family members of those who were gunned down Wednesday night in Charleston, South Carolina."

"At today’s hearing for the suspect, the spouses, siblings, parents, and children of the murdered innocents addressed the man being held for this unspeakable crime—and showered him with mercy and forgiveness. Theirs is a model for all humanity and a testament to the unique and transcendent power of faith." 

How can those, so wounded, so wonderfully forgive?

Forgiveness does not mean the relatives approve of Dylann's evil act. Forgiveness releases Dylann to God's hands. Forgiveness prays for peace, but it does not mean we don't need just laws to deal with those who are filled with hate and would harm or kill.

The victims' families are following in the footsteps of the Great Forgiver.

1. Jesus Modeled Forgiveness.

Mark 2:5 - "And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"

Luke 7:48 - "And he said to her (a sinful woman), 'Your sins are forgiven.'"

John 8:11 -"...'Neither do I condemn you (an adultress); go, and from now on sin no more.'"

On the cross, Jesus forgave a repentant thief, hanging on a cross beside Him (Luke 23:42-43), and He even forgave those who put Him to death! (Luke 23:34)

2. Jesus Taught Forgiveness.

Matthew 6:14 -"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

Matthew 18:21-22 -"Then Peter came up and said to him, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him,'“I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" [Story of the Unforgiving Servant, Matthew 18:23-35]

We see the power of forgiveness in the much-loved parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), modeling the Father's love and forgiveness.

Jesus exemplified and taught the kind of monumental mercy and forgiveness we've seen at Emanuel AME Church.

Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., says, "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."

As the deadly shots came, the victims were in Bible study. They loved the Word of God. And likely, they too would say to us, "Love and forgive. It is when you are most Christ-like."

Do you struggle to forgive? Can you walk in Jesus' footsteps and forgive by faith?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Ministries, is the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is the Director of the San Diego chapter of Network of Evangelical Women in MInistry (NEWIM San Diego). Dawn is the co-author of LOL with God and contributed "The Blessing Basket" in It's a God Thing. She and her husband Bob have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.