Daily Devotions
Caused to Surrender by Forgiveness
Reading for December 12th: Colossians 1-4
...if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Colossians 3:13
Albert Tomei is a justice of the New York State Supreme Court. A defendant was convicted of gunning down someone execution style in his court. This defendant had a long record and was no stranger to the system. He stared at the jury in anger as they returned a guilty verdict.
The victim's mother had attended every day during the two week trial. On the day of sentencing, she addressed the court. She spoke directly to the defendant. She forgave him.
"You broke the Golden Rule," she said, "...loving your neighbor as yourself. I am your neighbor."
The grandmother also addressed the court. She forgave him as well and added that if he wanted to write her, she would write him back. She said for sixteen months she had tried to hate him, but she couldn't. Instead, she felt sorry for him.
Judge Tomei wrote, "For the first time since the trial began, the defendant's eyes lost their laser force and appeared to surrender to a life force that only a mother can generate: nurturing, unconditional love. After the grandmother finished, I looked at the defendant. His head was hanging low. There was no more swagger, no more stare. The destructive forces within him collapsed helplessly before this remarkable display of humaneness."
[source: www.preachingtoday.com]
As we reflect on your love, Father God, give us a sense of gratitude and a willingness to extend forgiveness to others.
