“Don’t get mad; get even.” It seems to me that we don’t hear that as much these days as we did 20 years ago, when it was supposed to be very witty. Is that because we’ve gotten past that way of thinking? Or is it just that we take for granted that the right way to respond to some offense is to get even?

            Unfortunately, the latter is probably the case. Forgiving people who’ve injured or offended us is not a mainstream concept. You can look anywhere you want in the world — Sunni and Shiite Muslims hating one another because of things that happened generations ago, Republicans and Democrats throwing charges and counter-charges back and forth, husbands and wives mad at one another and kids on the playground trying to get back at other kids.

            So is this sermon going to be an exhortation to forgive other people? That wouldn’t be a bad idea. In our increasingly small world, forgiveness is imperative. We can look forward to a society torn apart by our disagreements and eventually by guns and car bombs if we don’t learn to let go of our grievances. It’s as simple as forgive or die. But just telling people to forgive one another isn’t going to change their attitudes. We have to go deeper than that. If you expect talk of forgiveness to be anything more than talk, you have to know and accept and appreciate the fact that God forgives you.

...approximately 1,218 words remaining. You are not logged in. Please see options at the top of this page to view complete sermon.