Corrie ten Boom on Forgiveness
Not forgiving someone is like having an open wound and never going for stitches. It is breaking your leg and not setting the bones or “having your appendices burst” and hoping the poison will not kill you.
To forgive isn’t easy.
However, not forgiving will prove to be much harder.
Jesus has forgiven us of everything; with His love, He will help us do the same.
Corrie ten Boom, a Holocaust survivor from the second World War, has an emotional story on forgiveness.
After Corrie’s release from Revensbruck Concentration Camp where she was brutally treated by the guards and where her sister had died – she was invited as the guest speaker to a meeting in Holland. Once she finished her talk, many people came up to shake her hand and to her dismay, standing in front of her, was a guard she recognized from the Ravensbruck.
“A fine message Corrie, how good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!” He held his hand out to her, “I’ve found Jesus Corrie, will you forgive me?”
At that moment Corrie says she couldn’t move.
She froze and time stopped.
Memories poured through her mind like a waterfall – that guard had been so cruel, not just to her and her sister, but countless others as well. After what seemed like an eternity, she prayed silently, “Jesus, help me – I can lift my hand, I can do that much but you have to supply the feeling”.
With her act of obedience, God did indeed supply the feeling and she was able to extend forgiveness. Corrie recalls, “I didn’t have the power to forgive, but the power came from the Holy Spirit as it says in Romans 5:5”. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given us”.
Corrie was able to forgive because of the love of Jesus.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. Romans 3:23
“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, rescue us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”. Matthew 6:12
Today’s Prayer:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for forgiving me of my sin, everything I have ever done wrong and burying my sins as well, at the bottom of the sea”.