Daily Bible Readings January 28th

If we do not forgive others, the result in us is that we are delivered to the inquisitors till we have paid to God all that was owing to him, We open the way for the accuser of the brethren, Satan, to have the right to release his inquisitors to question us continually about our wrong-doing. We do not have peace with God but a perpetual torment of accusation and guilt.We are to forgive each one his brother from our hearts their trespasses.This is so important a teaching, a principle we must live by, that Jesus in teaching his disciples how to pray tell us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"Those people who have forgiven the perpetrators of great evil against them, even the murder of members of their family, are not then held under the additional pain of thoughts of anger and bitterness and revenge but are able to live and grieve and seek to turn to good what had been purposed for evil.We have seen this attitude of heart in Joseph in forgiving his brothers and seeing instead that God brought good out of what human beings intended as evil for God is in the business of reducing the harm to us when we put our trust and hope in him and do not live in hatred of those who have done us wrong. In his book, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, A. Leonard Griffith tell the story of a young Korean exchange student, a leader in Christian circles at the University of Pennysylvania, who was murdered by a gang of eleven teenage boys. All of Philadelphia cried out for revenge and the district attorney planned to seek the death penalty for the arrested youth. And then, the following letter arrived, singed by the boy's parents and twenty other relatives in Korea. "Our family has met together and we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your government be gien to those who have commited this criminal action ... In order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition, we have decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational and social guidance of the boys when they are released ... We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the gospel of our Saviour Jeus Christ who died for our sins." When you forgive, you are no longer a victim but a victor. (quoted from God's Little Devotional Bible, published by Honor Books.