Forgiveness as a Spiritual Exercise
I attended a Bible Study earlier in the week on Tuesday night. For the last year I have been involved in this ministry that provides transitional housing, food, prayer, clothing and assistance to men who are poor and homeless. During the meeting one of the men spoke of how his younger brother was shot while walking home from school. “How am I supposed to forgive this man who shot my brother?” asked the man. My heart sank as I heard the pain in his voice. All I felt I could do was to approach the man afterwards and tell him I was sorry this had happened and that I would pray for him. He looked into my eyes and told me how the shooting of his brother had turned his life upside down and caused him to turn to unhealthy behaviors. I left the meeting with a heavy and burdened heart. When I returned home I dropped to my knees and said a prayer for him. Next week when I see him I intend to ask him if he’d like to talk with me about this. My hopes are that he will be able to forgive this man some day.
What I have written above is the introduction of an article that will appear in March on the online magazine, Faith and Fitness. It will be one of a series of articles on Spiritual Exercises in the context of how a person practices their faith and the relationship that respective Spiritual Exercise has on a person's health.
I have recognized the need to address this issue of forgiveness for a long time as it is an extremely relevant exercise that a person must address if he is to experience total health. Although I recognize the importance of this issue, it has been a challenge for me to get my arms around how to address it in a fairly short manner in a one-page article. It's only when I was able to seek God in a very humble and sincere way and ask Him to help me with this that he opened the door and gave me insight. I also believe that He orchestrated the events that occured on Tuesday night at the Bible Study as He provided a real life example of a person's struggle to forgive. I thank God for how He helped me with the article. More importantly I pray that God will touch and heal the heart of the man who's brother was shot.
