1st John 4:20-21
                                                                                      The power of forgiveness
                We have all had dastardly things done to us at one time in our life or another.  The key to having Fathers love in us and being honestly able to go on with what he wants us to do is to forgive those things that were done to us .  I knew a man named Adolph.  A good man he was. I could only see one character flaw in this man.  Adolph would give you the shirt off of his back. He would help strangers in a second.  He was not a forgiving man.  He had something done to him in the 1950’s by his sister and brother. Anyone who came in contact with knows the story. He would not, could not let it go.  It was a pretty major thing that was done to him, but to carry it for 50 years was a burden he would have been better to let go.  In his defense I don’t think there was ever repentance for the action that was taken against Adolph either.  So how do we forgive something big that has been done to us?  In Mathew 10:16 we are told to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  In other words, don’t hold what’s been done to you against the person who did it. That’s our Fathers job to take care of the judgment. But don’t open yourself up to letting wrong be done to you by that person a second time.   We are told Matthew 7:6 not to cast our pearls before swine.  As we do this and take a cautious approach to the person we know is not the most upright person ever to walk the earth. As we continue to show that person the love of Christ, our Father may touch their heart. That person may find his life changed by Fathers power through his son the Christ by the Holy Spirit.  When that life is changed then we come to understand the power of forgiveness.
Go in peace
Michael