The Power Of A Half Hour DevotionalНамуна

Forgiveness and Repentance in 30 Minutes

In a competitive, fast-paced, materialistic world like ours, it’s easy to develop and hold on to grudges or to seek personal gain at the expense of others. This attitude of selfishness simply brings division. A more fruitful attitude is one in which we quickly and willingly repent of the errors we commit, and just as quickly and willingly forgive those who seek our forgiveness.

I encourage you to regularly take a half-hour and ask the Lord to make you aware of any people whom you need to forgive. Then take the additional time needed to actually contact the people and ask for forgiveness. This is a serious matter to God.

I recall one situation in which I needed to be both repentant and forgiving. It happened in reaction to a letter from a woman who visited our church. She had seen me on a television show and visited because she thought I would be the loving pastor she was searching for. As her letter made abundantly clear, I was not what she expected.

I’m human, so my natural tendency was to want to send her a scathing letter
in response.

But instead, I went down to our church bookstore and bought a really expensive Bible, had her name embossed on it, and enclosed a handwritten card that said, “Please accept this as a token of my love and regret.” We sent it off to her, and I expected that to be the end of the story.

The next Wednesday night after the close of our service, I was meeting with people afterward. There was a small line of people waiting to see me. One of them was a well-groomed, sophisticated-looking lady whom I did not recognize. When her turn came for us to speak, she burst into tears. “I’m the woman. I’m the woman,” she said.

“What woman?” I asked.

I still did not understand what she meant until I noticed the Bible clutched in her hands, held against her chest. It was the embossed Bible I had sent.

I gave her a big hug and told her I loved her.

Soon thereafter she and her husband got saved and became members of our church. The lesson for me was the importance of responding in love, not anger, and waiting for the Lord to direct my response.