Forgiveness

The Bible has quite a bit to say about both bitterness and forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13

Forgive as he has forgiven you.

Recently, Anne Marie Hochhalter died aged 43. She probably died of natural causes due to injuries received on 20th April 1999 when two Grade 12 boys indiscriminately shot and killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. Anne was among 21 people who were wounded by gunshots that day. For 25 years, she struggled with intense pain from her gunshot wounds and was confined to a wheelchair.

However, Anne was much more than just a victim. In 2016, the mother of one of the killers wrote a memoir exploring causes of her son’s violence and ways to prevent future attacks. Money from the memoir went towards helping mental illness. Anne famously wrote to her on Facebook:

“A good friend once told me, ‘Bitterness is like swallowing a poison pill and expecting the other person to die.’ It only harms yourself. I have forgiven you and only wish you the best.”

After attending a 25 year vigil last year, Anne wrote, “I’ve truly been able to heal my soul since that awful day in 1999,” she wrote.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about both bitterness and forgiveness. Bitterness is destructive and keeps us in chains, but forgiveness frees us within ourselves, helps us to maintain unity within God’s family, and deepens our walk with God. God knows that forgiveness does not come cheaply. But it’s what he wants us to experience – towards friends, enemies, ourselves and even toward God himself.

Forgive as he has forgiven you. (Colossians 3:13)

Pastor John