‘As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God’. (Psalm 42:1)Did you read in the news this week of an attempted robbery that took place in Augusta, Georgia? At around 4am one morning a hooded man smashed his way into Diablo’s Southwest Grill, grabbed the till, which was empty, and fled.
When interviewed about the incident the Grill’s owner, Carl Wallace, said his first reaction was one of anger, frustration and wanting to call the police, as he had to get up in the middle of the night to clean up the mess and get everything ready to open later that following day.
But then his thoughts turned to the would-be robber and that maybe this man has never had an opportunity and had always been put down in life – he asked himself what would Jesus do? ‘Forgiveness’ flashed into his mind and so instead of reporting the incident to the police, Wallace thought the better way was to show forgiveness, and so he used his Facebook page to invite the burglar to ‘swing by for a job application’ and ‘let’s see how we can help you and fix the road you are on.’
The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, forgave people as the first step in turning their lives around. With there being so much hatred in the world the better way of forgiveness advocated by Jesus is certainly something to consider.
Have a forgiving week.
Pastor Barry
