Would I have been able to say it? Would I have been able to mean it? That’s all I could think about when I read the three little words Nadine Collier said to Dylann Roof as he appeared in court two days after killing nine people at a Charleston, South Carolina church during a prayer meeting. One of those nine was Ethel Lance, Collier’s mother. The three little words? “I forgive you.”

      And she wasn’t alone. Anthony Thompson, whose wife, Myra, was also killed in the shooting told Roof, “I forgive you and my family forgives you, but we would like you to take this opportunity to repent, repent … give your life to the one who matters the most, Christ, so that he can change it and change your ways no matter what happens to you, and you’ll be OK.”

      I know that, as Christians, it’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re commanded to forgive others in Scripture time after time. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you, but that’s talking about other Christians, and another Christian isn’t likely to kill one of my loved ones.” But in Matthew 10, Jesus said, “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

      Now that’s Jesus, not just some fallible, human preacher saying that. And He’s not talking about just forgiving another Christian for sitting in your seat on Sunday or insulting your fried chicken at the fellowship dinner. It’s an unqualified command to forgive everyone when they sin against you. There’s no ceiling given on the nature of the sin. It’s not that you forgive sins up to the level of assault, and then you’re off the hook to forgive. And look at what else He did—He tied OUR forgiveness to our ability to forgive others.

      So I know it’s what we’re supposed to do. But pulling that off is a different story. How can we possibly do that? The only way I know is by having our mind renewed—to adopt the mind of Christ, as Paul talked about in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 2. When we do that we’ll see others the way He sees them, and we’ll be able to treat them the way He would treat them. And that takes a ton of prayer and time in His word, and a lot of trust in His strength to do what we can’t do on our own.

      When I read stories like this I put myself in the shoes of the victims’ families and ask myself, “Could I do what they did? Could I forgive someone who took the life of someone I loved so much?” I mean, I have trouble letting it go when someone I don’t know cuts me off in traffic! How could I forgive such a terrible act? And I start to wonder how God could require us to forgive like that.

      And then He reminds me; He can say it because He did it. He saw His own son killed, and still forgave. His son’s life was sacrificed because of my sin, and He forgave. And if we’re going to be His followers, we have to do what He did.

            I hope I never have to try to forgive something so terrible, but if I do, I pray I’ll be able to represent Christ as well as Nadine Collier and Anthony Thompson have during this time.