"I Forgive You" - 25m:43s

Scott McFarland
04/29/18 - Sun AM Worship

Scripture Reading:  John 21:15-19

Famous Last Words

Forgive and Forget

In his book Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it."*

We tend to forgive, but not forget, don’t we?  Sometimes, even forgiving is difficult. We want to hold on, to bear the grudge, and to feel justified in our feelings of anger and bitterness.  The reality, as General Lee attempted to tell the woman from Kentucky, is that the result of those kind of actions only make us the prisoner, and further deepen the scars of the initial hurt.  Forgiving and forgetting is crucial to our well-being.

What if the person we struggle most to forgive is us?  This morning, we’ll take a look at someone who likely struggled with forgiving himself, and what His Lord had to say to him.

*Taken from http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/forgiveness.htm

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