A Reminder of Forgiveness

The other day I was reading from the book of Acts. I want to share a story with you that comes from Acts 6:8-15 and 7:1-60.

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There was a man named Stephen, who was full of the Holy Spirit. He was preaching to the people, and preforming great wonders among them. Some members of the synagogue started arguing with him, but they could not stand up against the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gave Stephen to speak. They eventually got so mad at him that they persuaded some people to tell the high priests that Stephen was speaking out against Moses and God. They then seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. Stephen gave this long speech (that you can find in Acts 7:1-53) that proved he was not in the wrong. Regardless, the people got so mad at him that they dragged him out and stoned him. But here is the amazing part, as he was getting stoned he cried out to God: “Lord, forgive them for this sin.” Then he died.

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Wow, right? After all the pain those people had done to him he still asked God to forgive them. They lied about him, and they were killing him, but he still forgave them.

The definition of forgiveness is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone. That is exactly what he did, and is what I think all of us should try to do as well. Think of some other examples of forgiveness: Joseph forgiving his brothers (Genesis 45,50), Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery (John 8), and many more. Forgiveness is an attribute of God, that is why we should try to practice it as well.

#forgiveness