What an amazing and joyful time we had at our “Friends and Family-Giving” lunch Sunday – sharing delicious food, celebrating the love we have for each other, and even seeing some great, [or at least “interesting”] football on the big screen!  Many thanks to all who prepared or bought food, and to all who served and set up and cleaned up – your generous, servant hearts are what makes TOCC a wonderful place to call home!  

 In the sermon Sunday, as we talked about love keeping no record of wrongs, it is likely I left you with the impression that, in order to follow the Spirit’s leading on this, we must not only forgive, but we must also forget the wrongs that have been done to us.  That is not actually correct, and I apologize for not being more clear on this.    

Scripture does not teach that we must forget in order to forgive.  In his wonderful book, “Love First”, Don McLaughlin, the Senior Minister of The North Atlanta Church of Christ says:

“If we could forget, what would there be to forgive?  Forgiveness is the act of offering restoration of a relationship where we absolutely remember the sin that caused the wound in the first place. …We see this forgiveness modeled by Jesus when He restores Peter following His resurrection [John 21].

There was no indication that Jesus had spiritual amnesia.  The sting of Peter’s betrayal was still fresh on Jesus’s mind, and Peter knew it.  But this was the key:  The power of Jesus’s forgiveness was the undeniable reality of Peter’s denials.”

In the sermon, we talked about the murder of our brother in Christ, Botham Jean [when an off-duty Dallas Police Officer mistakenly walked into Botham’s apartment and shot him], and about that amazing moment in the trial when Botham’s brother, Brandt, forgave her.  Do you think Brandt Jean had forgotten that Amber Guyger had killed his brother when he forgave her, when he said he wanted the best for her, when he hugged her and cried with her, when he said he loved her?  That was a powerful moment.  That was a victory of love over hate.  That shows me that all of the grudges I am holding are petty and wastes of time and energy, and really, wastes of the love God has poured into me.  May He forgive and soften my heart so that, like Brandt Jean, I can bring His love to people who are so desperately in need of it.          

~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey