Compassion from the Enemy

It was 1944, and Bert Frizen was an infantryman on the front lines in Europe. American forces had advanced in the face of intermittent shelling and small-arms ...

Blessing a Persecutor

Facing arrest as an Anabaptist, Dirck Willems fled for his life across a frozen lake. When his pursuer broke through the ice, Willems gave up his chance ...

Three Parts of Forgiving

To forgive someone involves three things. First, it means to forego the right of striking back. One rejects the urge to repay gossip with gossip and a ...

Bury the Hatchet Deep

Forgiveness is not that stripe which says, "I will forgive, but not forget." It is not to bury the hatchet with the handle sticking out of the ...

End of Discussion

Old gossip may ... be immoral, a means of locking another person in the past, tying a person to a past sin in a way that is anything but Christian. ... ...

Love a Sinner?

I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the ...

Watch that Second Step

In matters of forgiveness, as in all other virtues, the first step (forgiving) is comparatively simple compared to the second (reconciling). Hell is always ...

The Grace to Forgive

"Daddy, come quick," shouted my four-year-old daughter. "Someone stole the presents from under the Christmas tree."

At first I thought ...

Greater Love...

Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. ...

Foolish Demands?

The things Jesus demands are entirely foolhardy--until you begin to share His view of things. Come to see money not as a passport to luxury but as a dangerous ...