Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Forgiveness? only by God's grace

There have been reports that members of the Amish community have forgiven the man who killed their little girls. When I first heard this in a report, I was astounded and thought, how could anyone "process" their grief so quickly and reach forgiveness already.

Later, I heard another report that said that the community had begun to think about how they could respond to the family of the shooter. They had talked about taking food to his widow. That's when I began to think...what a witness to God's grace.

The power to forgive is not through our own strength or goodness or will. Rather, we are able to forgive, only by the power of God's grace.

Although the report that I have linked talks also about some members of the community believing this was God's plan, I strongly disagree with that theology. But, I do believe whatever happens to us, we have a choice in how we respond and in that response we can witness to God's Grace.

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