BY JACK WARD
PASTOR, TOMAHAWK MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

Some years ago, two teenagers with a long history of crime and misbehavior robbed a YMCA on the lowest East Side of New York City. On the way out they saw a young man at the telephone switchboard. They were frightened and assumed that the man must be calling the police. They held and beat him violently with brass knuckles and a blackjack. They thought he was dead; they hid him behind the swimming pool and escaped.

Later that evening, a woman who came to swim was walking by the pool. She slipped in the man’s blood, screamed, and then found Donald Tippet’s body. He lived, but one eye was so badly damaged that it could not be saved.

Meanwhile, the two teenagers were seized and brought to trial. Their past records assured that both would get long sentences. Donald Tippet did an amazing thing when he called for the judge to allow the two young men to be paroled from his charge. He wanted to give them another chance. He believed they could change. One of the boys committed another crime, was caught, and sent to jail. The other boy was receptive to Tippet’s kindness. He went to college and then to medical school. He became one of our nation’s leading eye surgeons. A reporter writing about Donald Tippet’s amazing story of forgiveness said of the surgeon’s deeds: “I wonder if he ever performs one of those delicate eye operations without thinking of that night in the YMCA and the young man whose forgiveness changed his life!”

We know that God is the God of second chances. Not only that, but He is the God of third chances, fourth chances and on and on. We believe and know that He never gives up on us. He will always love us, and His desire is to draw all men unto Himself. We all know and believe that about God.

But what about you? Are you willing to forgive and give people a second chance? I’ve heard people say, “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget!” But I ask you, is that really forgiveness? God said in Hebrews 8:12: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” I believe that the greatest sin that we, as God’s people, commit is our lack of forgiveness for others. We love to hold grudges. We are happy to keep resentment. We enjoy our revenge. What if God forgave like we do? How would we like that? If God forgave like we do, I’m afraid that not many of us would stand a chance of making it to heaven.

Jesus expects us to forgive. In fact He demands it. Jesus said in Luke 17:3-4: “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” Matthew 6:14-15: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That’s pretty serious, isn’t it?

Jesus takes this matter of forgiveness and second chances very seriously. We should and we must forgive others. It not only helps the person who is forgiven, but it helps us in our relationship with Christ. For how can we hope to truly know Him if we are not like Him in His forgiveness, His mercy and His willingness to give people another chance?

Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons on WSIP FM 98.9 every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Watch sermons at www.tomahawkmbc.com or Facebook live (Jack Ward) at 11:25 a.m. every Sunday.