Monday, September 27, 2021
Monday, September 27, 2021
King Solomon describes the virtues of not being vengeful, but rather forgiving.
Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city (NASB)
American culture does not exalt those who “turn the other cheek”. Yet recall the ripple that went across this country, first in 2006 when the Amish of Pennsylvania came to the mother of the Amish school shooter (who had killed 10 young girls before shooting himself), and asked her not to move, but to stay in the community. Some of the victim’s families even attended her son’s funeral.
The second instance of self-control was in 2015, after the shooting of 9 people by a racist fanatic at the Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C. Once the shooter was arrested, the victim’s families showed up at his arraignment not to rail and curse him, but to tell him they forgave him. You could hear a pin drop across America’s cultural landscape . . .
Ultimately, it’s not the words of those who follow Christ – but their actions that validate Scripture’s teachings.