Forgiveness Is Not Letting Evil Win

Sunday Rewind is a 5-day Devotional based on the weekly sermon at Resonate Community Church

June 28th Sermon, Day 2

One of the biggest reasons we resist forgiving someone is because it feels like we're saying what they did was okay. But forgiveness doesn't work that way. It never has. Forgiveness is releasing your right to get even. It doesn't erase what happened. It doesn't excuse the wrong. It simply means you are choosing to trust God to dispense the justice rather than trying to do it yourself.

Corrie Ten Boom understood this at a level most of us will never have to. A Holocaust survivor, she came face to face with a former Nazi guard who had overseen the camp where her sister died. She didn't want to forgive him. But she prayed a simple prayer, asking Jesus for help, and she reached out her hand. In that moment, she experienced something she couldn't manufacture on her own. God's grace made possible what felt completely impossible. Her act of forgiveness didn't rewrite history. It didn't excuse evil. But it did reflect a deep trust in God's power to transform people and situations beyond what she could see or control. You may be facing something that feels just as impossible today. The good news is that you don't have to find the strength on your own. You just have to be willing to ask.

Bible Verse

"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." - 1 Peter 2:23

Reflection Question

What is one area where you have confused forgiveness with excusing someone's behavior, and how might understanding the difference change your next step?

Quote

"Forgiveness is releasing your right to get even. Doesn't mean that justice disappears. It just means that we trust God to dispense the justice."

Prayer

Lord, I don't want to carry this anymore. Give me the grace to release what I cannot fix and trust You to be the righteous judge I need You to be. Amen.