Move Forward in Peace

Corrie ten Boom’s story of how she survived the Ravensbruck concentration camp is amazing.  But just as amazing is what happened later.  After speaking in Germany in 1947, she was approached by a man holding out his hand and smiling.  Horrified, she recognized one of the cruelest of the guards who had tormented her and her sister, Betsie.

He was now a Christian, and she knew she must forgive him, since to turn away from him would nullify everything she stood for as a Christian.  She had to pray for her arm to move, but at last she was able to reach out and take the former guard’s hand.  She wrote, “I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

In speaking with other victims of Nazi brutality, Corrie reported that those who were able to forgive were the ones who moved beyond the horror of the past most successfully.  Taking the hand of a former enemy does more to show God’s love than taking revenge.

Jesus died to forgive us for our sins, and we are to forgive others.  I know it’s not an easy task and it will take time but it’s still what Christ commanded us to do.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  (Matthew 6:14,15)