{"id":4230,"date":"2024-11-29T15:02:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T20:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4230"},"modified":"2024-11-29T15:02:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T20:02:29","slug":"an-extended-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/29\/an-extended-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"An Extended Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

What\u2019s the key relational issue in the Bible?\u00a0

That\u2019s easy: It\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0

Apart from the willingness and the ability to forgive, human relationships simply hit the wall.\u00a0

But how do we forgive monsters \u2013 the people who have ravaged our memories, our reputations, our bodies, and our souls?\u00a0

Here is where we stand helpless apart from the power of God.

Just two years after she survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, a Dutch citizen named Corrie ten Boom was asked to speak to a group of Germans about the power of forgiveness.\u00a0

That evening she said, as she often put it, that God hurls our sins into the deepest sea and then declares, \u201cNo fishing allowed.\u201d\u00a0

Corrie tells us what happened after she finished her presentation:

\u201cThe solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe.\u00a0And that\u2019s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others.\u00a0One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a cap with skull and crossbones.\u00a0

\u201cIt came back with a rush \u2013 the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man.\u00a0I could see my sister\u2019s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin.\u00a0Betsie, how thin you were!\u00a0That place was Ravensbruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard \u2013 one of the most cruel guards.

\u201cNow he was in front of me, hand thrust out:\u00a0\u2018A fine message, Fraulein!\u00a0How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!\u2019\u00a0

\u201cAnd I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand.\u00a0He would not remember me, of course \u2013 how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?\u00a0

\u201cBut I remembered him.\u00a0I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.

\u201c\u2019You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,\u2019 he was saying. \u201cI was a guard there.\u2019 No, he did not remember me.\u00a0\u2018But since that time,\u2019 he went on, \u2018I have become a Christian.\u00a0I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well.\u00a0Fraulein\u2019 \u2013 again the hand came out \u2013 \u2018will you forgive me?\u2019

\u201cAnd I stood there \u2013 I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven \u2013 and could not forgive.\u00a0

\u201cBetsie had died in that place.\u00a0Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?\u00a0It could have been many seconds that he stood there \u2013 hand held out \u2013 but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

\u201cFor I had to do it \u2013 I knew that.\u00a0The message that God forgives has a prior condition:\u00a0that we forgive those who have injured us\u2026 And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.\u00a0

\u201cBut forgiveness is not an emotion \u2013 I knew that, too.\u00a0Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.\u00a0\u2018Jesus, help me!\u2019 I prayed silently.\u00a0\u2018I can lift my hand.\u00a0I can do that much. You supply the feeling.\u2019

\u201cAnd so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me.\u00a0And as I did, an incredible thing took place.\u00a0The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands.\u00a0And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

\u201c\u2019I forgive you, brother!\u2019 I cried.\u00a0\u2018With all my heart!\u2019\u00a0For a long moment we grasped each other\u2019s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner.\u00a0I had never known God\u2019s love so intensely, as I did then.\u00a0

\u201cBut even then, I realized it was not my love.\u00a0I had tried, and did not have the power.\u00a0It was the power of the Holy Spirit.\u201d

There is a power available to us all that comes from the heart of the One who prayed concerning his enemies, \u201cFather, forgive them; they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d\u00a0

And very often we find that in the act of releasing another person, the prisoner who is really set free is the one who forgives.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here What\u2019s the key relational issue in the Bible?\u00a0 That\u2019s easy: It\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 Apart from the willingness and the ability to forgive, human relationships simply hit the wall.\u00a0 But how do we forgive monsters \u2013 the people who have ravaged our memories, our reputations, our bodies, and our souls?\u00a0 Here is where… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-4230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-forgiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4232,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4230\/revisions\/4232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}