File: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940208.txt
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          OUR DAILY BREAD                    Tuesday, February 8, 1994
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          Read:  Matthew 18:21-35

                                 HOW CAN I FORGIVE?

                     If you do not forgive men their trespasses,
                  neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
                                   --Matthew 6:15

          Some of life's hurts are so deep and painful that to forgive  the
          people who caused them seems impossible.  Yet Jesus says that  we
          can't  experience  His  forgiveness if  we  have  an  unforgiving
          spirit.

          In  World  War  II, Corrie Ten Boom and her  sister  Betsie  were
          arrested   for  concealing  Jews  and  were  sent  to  a   German
          concentration  camp.  Betsie died a slow and terrible death as  a
          result of the cruel treatment.

          Then,  in 1947, Corrie spoke about God's forgiveness to a  church
          in Munich.  Afterward, a man sought her out.  She recognized  him
          as one of the guards who had mistreated her and Betsie.  He  told
          her  that  he had become a Christian, and with extended  hand  he
          asked  for her forgiveness.  Corrie struggled with her  feelings,
          but  when  she recalled the words of Jesus in Matthew  6:15,  she
          knew she had to forgive.  She silently prayed, "Jesus, help  me!"
          and thrust her hand into the hand of her former tormentor.

          Someone  has said, "Forgiveness is not a case of  'holy  amnesia'
          that  wipes  out  the past.  Instead, it  is  the  experience  of
          healing that drains the poison from the wound."

          God  asks  us to do for others what He has done  for  us  through
          Jesus Christ.  He'll give us strength to forgive.

          Author:  Dennis J. De Haan

                         Lord Jesus, give us grace each day
                           That we may follow in Your way,
                          Especially when some unloved soul
                          Needs our forgiving to be whole.

          THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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          Since we all need forgiveness, we should always be forgiving.

          THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Exodus 38-40


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