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When I was a boy, one of the close family friends were my next door neighbors.  They were an older black couple that I remember being very nice.  To this day my mom enjoys telling the story of one morning when they realized I was nowhere at home.  Understandably, my parents worried and went looking for me only to find me over at Smitty and Laurice’s house having breakfast.

In the middle of the night, my mom woke me up.  I still remember the scene vividly as I write this.  She came and sat down next to my bed, and the look on her face coupled with the tone of her voice told me something was wrong.  She told me that Smitty was dead.  He was a mailman, and he had been out doing his route when a drunk driver hit his vehicle flipping it.  I never got to say goodbye.

Being around people is a situation that is bound to cause pain.  None of us are perfect, and we are going to hurt each other or let each other down from time to time.  That’s just the truth of it.  It’s life.

Renee had four daughters.  One day her daughter, Megan, was in a car with her friend on the way home from the beach when they were hit by Eric, who was behind the wheel drunk.  Both girls were killed by the collision.  Eric was 24 years old, and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. 

Renee began to travel around to schools and churches speaking about the dangers of drunk driving.  After doing these speaking engagements for a time, she started to see that something was missing.  When she realized this, God laid it on her heart that she had not forgiven Eric for taking her daughter’s life, so that is exactly what she did.  She reached out to Eric in prison and forgave him.  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).  From that single act of compassion, the rest of her family followed her lead and forgave Eric for what he had done.  Through the immense love shown to him by this family, Eric was led to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Romans 4:7).

Renee not only forgave Eric.  She also got his prison sentence cut in half to 11 years, and the plans are to have Eric join her as she begins preaching the power of forgiveness along with the dangers of drunk driving.  They now describe Eric as part of their family.  They lost a daughter, but they gained a son.  I think Megan is smiling in heaven, and I know God is.

The Story Behind Forgiveness

Forgiveness is not a foreign concept for those who walk with Jesus, but often I believe we do not understand the lengths we are expected to go in forgiving others.  Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”  Jesus responds to Peter, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22).  Jesus is saying in no uncertain terms that there should be no end to your forgiveness.

The truth is that all of us are guilty before God, and He has forgiven us more than we can comprehend by pouring out His own blood at the cross.  There was no other way, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Leviticus 17:11).  All of us were guilty of our own sin and would have to pay our own debt, but God was not.  Only He could pay for the sin debt of another.  So He paid the debt for everyone.  We just have to accept it.

In light of that forgiveness we have already received for our sins against God, it is only right for us to act in the same way and forgive the sins against us.  If we cannot forgive, do we really have forgiveness?

“And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us…  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15).

After Smitty was killed, I had to figure out how to forgive the man who did it.  I was angry at him, hated him.  He didn’t know it, though.  He doesn’t even know who I am.  It has been said, “To hold a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”  It is true.  Holding onto anger against another person only hurts you.  Forgive them and experience the freedom God wants you to have in that forgiveness.  “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that prisoner was you” (Lewis B. Smedes).

Then, after you have experienced that freedom, show them the freedom of knowing Jesus and being forgiven of everything you have ever done wrong.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4).

Tools in the Hands of the Master Craftsman

It was just a normal, run-of-the-mill type of day.  There was nothing particularly interesting of fantastic going on.  It was Thursday, so we had homegroup that night.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, homegroup is similar to a Bible study, but it is more than just a Bible study.  There is fellowship, accountability, smaller group discussions, and homegroups do not have an end date like some Bible studies.  This particular homegroup was going to be different, though.  Even as the leader, I had no idea about this, but God certainly did.  This just goes to prove who the real leader is, and in every successful homegroup, Bible study, church, or otherwise, God is the leader.  Farah was one of the members of the homegroup, and she had recently fractured her spine.  She was in a back brace, and by God's grace, still had full use of her legs because her spinal chord was not severed.  Near the end of the night, she asked for use to pray for her.  The bones in her back were not regrowing.  She was not healing.  We gathered around her, laid hands on her, and began to pray.  We prayed that God would heal her.  We asked for healing in the name and Jesus, and proclaimed His power to do so.  We left that night, and I honestly do not remember if I continued to pray for Farah or not for the next week.  I would hope that I did.  During homegroup the following week, Farah let us know what God had done in her after we prayed last week.  She had an appointment with her doctor, and the doctor had taken ex-rays of her spine.  To his amazement, 2/3 of the bone mass in her back had regrown!  God had answered our prayer, and He healed Farah!  The final 1/3 regrew, and she was fully healed.  I was very happy to see her able to walk around without a back brace after that.  Praise our God who lives and allows us the privilege to be used by Him!

Sometimes, we have problems remembering our place as tools in His hands.  On Sunday we yell, "Here I am Lord!  Send me!" and on Monday we moan, "I don't want to do that!"  God has the right to use us as He sees fit to use us.  It is only by His mercy that He allows us to even ask to be used, or that He does not immediately smite us dead when we complain about being used in a way we do not want to be used, "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (Romans 9:21).  I know the context of this verse shows us that Paul is speaking of those who are saved being used to show God's mercy and those who are condemned being used to show His justice, but cannot one vessel who is being saved be used to glorify God in small, menial tasks for which they are given no recognition by others while another is used for large, grand tasks that only one hidden under a rock would not be aware of?  Is either one better than the other?  No!  Each is used to glorify God, and each one, being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, will receive their due reward from the One who's recognition does matter.  So, the janitor and the CEO both glorify God...  and remember that "many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30).


If we are not careful, pride has a nasty habit of sneaking in when we are not aware of it.  It is not so easy when God, through us, heals broken or fractured bones in a week to get prideful and think we actually had something to do with it, although that has happened before.  It is much easier to fall to pride when we have a conversation with someone, God speaks through us to them on an issue they are struggling with, and then suddenly we think we're awesome counselors because we've given some great advice.  We haven't.  God used us to glorify Himself, and we go off thinking we've done something great and steal from God the glory due to Him!


"Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
   or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
   or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!" (Isaiah 10:15).

Today, when God uses you.  Give the glory to the One who deserves the glory, and allow yourself to be content in what you are:  a tool in the hand of the Master Craftsman.