April 29th-Afternoon | FORGIVENESS

What happens if you don’t forgive? During the Korean War, a South Korean Christian and his teenaged son, both civilians, were arrested by the North Korean Communists and ordered to be shot. A young communist military leader learned that the prisoner was in charge of an orphanage caring for young children, so he decided to spare the father and to kill his son instead. The 19 year old was shot to death 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 had been killed pleaded for the life of his son’s murderer. The grieved father declared that “he was young and that he really did not 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. Today that very man is 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.”