“Put up with one another. If someone has a problem with somebody else, forgive each other as the Lord forgave you.” Cold 3:13 (Simple English Bible)
Carl didn’t find out until many years after the funeral. His parents never told him that he had an older brother — he’d always been called “Uncle John” but was, in fact, his mother’s first child. It was scandalous in those years for a girl to be an unwed mother and together with the family, everyone agreed the best would be for one of the girl’s sisters to take the baby as her own and raise the child in her home. “Uncle John” died of a heart attack when he was over sixty. Only afterwards was it revealed that the man had been Carl’s older brother. Carl felt cheated — he never had the opportunity to know his brother or form a relationship with him. Carl blamed his parents.
As terrible as this sounds, Carl had to come to the place in his life where he had to forgive his parents. Even though it was too late for Carl and “Uncle John”, there had to be peace within the family. It wasn’t easy to forget nor was it easy for Carl to do this.
Christ forgave us of worse things. When we gave our lives to Jesus, He forgave completely, not just a few sins but every sin we’d committed. It was wiped away as if they never existed! We, too, must mirror this forgiveness towards each other, our families and fellow believers in the Lord.
Otherwise, how will we ever be forgiven ourselves?
Steve
