Forgiveness

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a word that may instill fear in some people.  You want me to forgive him?  Do you know what he’s done?  Or, you want me to forgive her?  She’s lied to me too many times.

There are many, many ways in which others can hurt us.  Parents, spouses, children, friends, strangers, no one is exempt.  What if someone kicked your dog?  Could you forgive them?  What if someone kidnapped your child?  Could you forgive them?  What if someone tried to literally kill you just to get the attention of another person?  Could you forgive them?

When I was a teenager, capital punishment was a headline topic.  Activists on both sides seemed to have legitimate stances.  The pro camp stated that ridding society of those criminals who committed the most brutal and ruthless crimes was warranted, and necessary to deter others who might attempt the same.

The con camp stated that the criminals were humans and had rights just like anyone else.  The debates were passionate.  I was one of the pro campers.  If someone committed a brutal premeditated crime, then they deserved the death penalty.

On March 30, 1981 in Washington, DC, President Ronald Reagan was entering his limousine from the Washington Hilton Hotel.  A shot rang out from the muzzle of deranged man’s pistol.  The bullet pierced the chest of the President as the Secret Service speedily pushed him into the limousine and whisked him away to George Washington University Hospital.  Other Secret Service agents jumped on and apprehended the culprit.  Television and radio newscasters spread the news immediately with a hint of panic.  “President Reagan has been shot!” 

As the details came in, the President was alive and in surgery.  He was in fact joking with the surgeons and staff at the hospital and appeared to be taking the situation extremely well.  The bullet had barely missed the President’s heart and he was out of immediate danger soon with the skillful hands of the surgeon(s).

The gunman, John Hinckley Jr., had managed to hit White House Press Secretary James Brady as well with another bullet.  And he too survived, as did a Secret Service Agent and a police officer.

If ever there was a crime that deserved the death penalty, this was it.  Capital punishment was still allowed at the Federal level.  Sometime after his full recuperation, the President had a press conference to discuss the event.  Hah!  Now that no-good gunman will get what’s coming to him!  President Reagan wasn’t one to stand for this sort this. 

The bulk of the President’s speech was solemn but personable.  This was the tone of someone who was about to send a man to his death?  What was going on?  Then the President spoke these words or at least something close to them:  “I have forgiven John Hinckley.”

What?!  How could such a powerful person, one who had the capability of truly punishing someone who had tried to kill him, forgive his assailant?  According to Wikipedia, President Reagan believed that God had preserved his life so that he might fulfill future purposes.  It further states that he met with Pope John Paul II, who was also a victim of an attempted assassination, to discuss the matter.  While President Reagan was not Catholic the Pope concurred with the President.

When we have a perspective that God is in charge and chooses to preserve our life, it is a humbling experience.  It is far more difficult to hold someone else accountable when we understand that the One Who made us, has shown us inexplicable mercy.  How could President Reagan forgive someone who attempted to kill him?  Simple, he knew the One that laid down His own life for him.  He knew that Jesus Christ had died for him and forgiven him of his sins.  His sins, just as every one of our own sins, were what Jesus died for, willingly!

The next time someone causes you undue harm, slander, emotional pain, etc., don’t try to forgive them under your own strength.  That won’t ever happen.  Ask Jesus to help you forgive that person.  He will most likely show you the things of which you have been forgiven.