John 9:1-7: Jesus and the Man Born Blind

INTRODUCTION

I want to talk today with you about the most troubling question in the world.

The most troubling question all of all is “Why?”

A young couple in our church lost their beautiful six-year-old daughter to cancer. This was several years ago—but they keep asking themselves, “Why?”

They are still faithful believers, they have not lost their faith in God, but they still wonder.

Even godly people ask that question. A psalmist asked, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And Jesus took that prayer on his lips while he hung on the cross.

Some people think they know the reason for the suffering in the world. Here are some of the answers they give:

1. People get what they deserve.

2. God sends pain and suffering to improve our character.

3. Some say that our troubles are actually blessings in disguise.

4. Others tell us that God afflicts us to get our attention, and to prove to us that we need God.

Each of these “answers” has a bit of truth in it:

1. Often people do get what they deserve—but just as often they get what they don’t deserve. We see scoundrels become millionaires, and saints get incurable diseases.

2. Pain and suffering can improve our character if we can bring our suffering to God with faith. But often great troubles make people bitter, or hopeless, or despairing.

3. Suffering sometimes is a blessing in disguise. A young man became gravely ill. In the hospital he met a wonderful, caring nurse. They fell in love, married, and had a happy marriage. He says, “Getting sick was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

4. And sometimes we do hear God’s voice in our suffering, but sometimes in suffering, people despair and give up on God.

A number of years ago a Jewish rabbi (Harold Kushner) wrote a book that was a best seller. It was entitled, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. It was a good and thoughtful book.

The well-known Christian author C. S. Lewis wrote a book called The Problem of Pain. Because Lewis was a brilliant writer and a former atheist, his book was helpful to many Christians.

But after Lewis lost his wife in a terrible battle with cancer he found that he still had questions.

The problem of so much sadness and sorrow and pain in our world is the strongest weapon that skeptics use against belief in God.

They argue that a good and all-powerful God could have made a world without sorrow.

They say that all the suffering proves that God isn’t loving—or that God isn’t all powerful.

A notable atheist wrote a book recently making this case against belief in God. His book is called God’s Problem.

We might expect that the Bible would have the answer to this problem—but it doesn’t.

The Bible was written to teach us how to know God—and how to live in the light of that knowledge.

It was not written to answer all our questions—especially questions, the answers of which we couldn’t understand, given the limitations of our minds.

The Bible is written to give us light for living. And if we live for God, we can live rich and useful lives—even though we have to live with questions.

Let me read to you the story of The Man Born Blind, from John’s gospel, chapter 9:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).

So he went and washed and came back seeing (John 9:1-7).

I. The disciples assumed that the man’s blindness was punishment for sin. That is why they asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

A. The Bible teaches—and life also teaches—that sin brings suffering. So—the disciples reasoned—somebody’s sin must be the reason for all the suffering in the world.

But now they had a problem. The man had been born blind. For whose sin was he being punished? It couldn’t be his own sin, unless he had sinned while he was in his mother’s womb.

But if it was his parents’ sin he was being punished for—that isn’t fair. Why should he suffer all his life for the sins of his parents?

B. This was an honest question—but Jesus didn’t answer it.

Instead he gave his disciples—and us—a different way to look at the problem of undeserved suffering.

Jesus turned their minds away from their question “why?” because there’s a more important question we need to address.

Jesus changed the subject. He said, ”We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

This should also be our attitude. Rather than bemoaning the sorry state of the world—or assigning blame—we should respond to suffering by doing what we can—by doing the work of God while it is day.

Jesus did what he could, and he healed the man.

We aren’t Jesus, and we can’t heal with a touching. But we can do something.

We’re not put into the world to figure everything out. We are put into the world to do all the good we can, in every way we can.

And for that we don’t need all the answers. We are saved to work with God to bring light into the world—the light of God’s goodness and love.

Sometimes by our love—our kindness—to those in trouble, we can draw them towards God.

I believe that the more love people experience in the world the more likely they are to believe God is loving.

People need to see God’s love through us who are his children.

Jesus knew he could not eliminate blindness in the world—but he could help this blind man.

We also have opportunities.

When we pass by a needy person whom we could help, and do nothing, we prevent God’s love from reaching that hurting person.

We can’t heal the blind, but we can offer a word of encouragement. We can be a friend. We can listen. We can pray.

Jesus said, “I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night comes when no one can work.”

Our time on earth is short—but it’s all-important in view of eternity, because what we do during our short lives has consequences for good or evil for all eternity.

II. Notice how Jesus went about healing this man.

A. The blind man had heard the discussion. He was in the dark, but he was curious. He had heard an unfamiliar voice say, “I am the light of the world.”

All his life he had wondered what light was. He wondered what colors were. He wondered about the sun, the moon, the stars, the rainbow. He wondered about the things people talked about that he couldn’t imagine.

Isn’t it odd how Jesus went about healing this man? Sometimes Jesus healed with a touch. Sometimes he healed with a word.

But this time, Jesus made an ointment with his saliva and a bit of clay from the ground and anointed the man’s eyes!

This sounds strange, but I think I know why he did this.

This man couldn’t see anything—he couldn’t see Jesus. He couldn’t see the expression on Jesus’s face. He couldn’t see the kindness shining out from Jesus’s face.

When Jesus anointed the man’s eyes he was acting out the healing that he intended to do.

And when he sent him to the pool of Siloam, he was giving the man a way to express his faith.

Jesus usually required faith on the part of those he healed. That is why he so often told them: “Your faith has healed you,” words that can also be translated, “Your faith has saved you.”

B. The way to make faith grow is to put it to work. So the poor man had to grope his way—or be led—to the pool. How his heart must have been pounding!

Think of the conflicting thoughts in the poor man’s mind as he set out for the pool!

He probably asked himself, “Am I making a fool of myself?... Will people laugh at me if nothing happens?... This man who anointed my eyes sounded pretty confident…. Anyway, what have I got to lose? …I can believe that I will get healed! I can’t wait to get to the pool!”

Imagine his excitement when he washed the mud out of his eyes—and opened them and suddenly saw light and colors and peoples’ faces for the first time in his life!

C. When the healed man got back, Jesus was gone. The rest of the chapter tells about an argument the blind man had with Jesus’s enemies, the religious authorities.

They insisted that Jesus was a bad man because he had healed this man on the Sabbath. But the healed man insisted that Jesus must be a good man, a prophet. He told Jesus’s enemies: “One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

The upshot of it was that the healed man was banished from synagogue. This was tough because the synagogue was their church—where they prayed and worshiped, and heard the scriptures.

When Jesus heard about his predicament he sought him out.

Jesus found him and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of man?”

The man answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.”

Then the man said, “Lord I believe”; and he worshiped Jesus.

Now, in addition to the healing of his eyes, Jesus gave him salvation and eternal life.

Now he has a saving relationship with Christ.

CONCLUSION

This story is telling us that “Why?” is the wrong question.

The right question, when we suffer is: “How can I honor God in this situation?”

When Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God may be made manifest in him,” he wasn’t saying that the man had been born blind so that someday 30 years from then Jesus could come along and heal him.

He wasn’t saying that it was good that the man had been born blind.

He wasn’t saying that it was God’s will that this poor man should suffer blindness all those years.

He was saying that even in this tragic event God can be honored.

This is the question we should ask ourselves when we suffer.

Not “Why?” or “Why me?” but “How can I honor God in this situation? How can I use my sorrow to prove my faith in God?”

We should ask ourselves, “Is there some lesson of wisdom I can learn from my situation?” “Can I find in this predicament some way I can serve others?”

Let me suggest two ways that God uses difficulties in our lives.

(1) Trouble gives us an opportunity to prove that our faith is real.

St. Peter wrote, “Now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold—which though perishable is tested by fire—may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Trials and tribulations are hard to bear, but they do give us an opportunity to fight the good fight of faith—and to prove that our faith is real and that God is real.

That is why people get satisfaction in looking back to difficult times, knowing they were a battles won against the dark forces that threaten our souls.

(2) The second way that God uses the sorrows in our lives is to open a door for us to serve others.

St. Paul wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

We have friends at church whose son was born profoundly retarded. He’s a grown man now. His mother and father have a ministry at our church that brings together mentally- handicapped adults from all over the area for a time of worship and friendship every Sunday afternoon.

It’s not good that their son is retarded—that’s a heavy burden—but it is good that his affliction has led them into a useful ministry to help others.

We have two friends who suffered painful divorces. God brought them together, and for years now they have hosted a divorce recovery group that has helped many people.

Someone said: “To have suffered much is like knowing many languages; it gives you access to many people.”

The world is full of sadness. God uses those who have experienced sorrow to strengthen and comfort others who have also experienced affliction.

Our troubles—if we offer them to God—can fill us with compassion for others who suffer and make us useful in ways that would never have been possible if our life had been untroubled.

Father Damien worked in the leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Week by week, he preached, addressing the people as “you lepers.” Nothing much happened until the day came when he stood up to preach and began with the words, “We lepers.” He had contracted the disfiguring and fatal disease himself! And that made all the difference.

The beginning of Father Damian’s suffering was also the beginning of a great revival in that village of the dying. Father Damian’s suffering proved to be redemptive for others. That is because Christian suffering is never suffering in a vacuum. Father Damian—and we—suffer with Jesus.

A woman named Peggy lost her 28-year-old daughter to cancer. As she mourned and suffered, she poured her broken heart out to God. She offered herself and her suffering to God, just as Jesus did on the cross.

That hasn’t made her suffering any easier, but now everywhere she goes she meets people who have lost adult children to death. Peggy sits next to them on airplanes, meets them in the supermarket, and bumps into them on vacation. She shares their suffering and offers them Christ and his comfort. Her suffering, united with Christ’s suffering has meant salvation for many.

The deeper sorrow carves its way into our hearts, the better we understand the sorrows of others—and the better we are prepared to extend God’s love to suffering souls around us.

Prayer:

Dear Father, give us understanding in our tribulations.

Help us to deeply pity others’ misery.

Teach us to weep with those who weep

and to ardently thirst for their happiness as you do.

Show us how we may be instruments of your mercy in a sad world.

May the same mind be in us that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 15:13: Abounding in Hope

INTRODUCTION

Rabbi Hugo Gryn was imprisoned with his family in Auschwitz during World War II. Food supplies were meager and the family lived just above the starvation level.

One year at the time of the Festival of Hanukkah, Hugo saw his father take a lump of margarine—something very precious—and was horrified to see his father use it for the Hanukkah candle.

The boy asked his father how he could do such a thing, and his father said, “We know that it is possible to live for three weeks without food, but without hope it is impossible to live properly for three minutes.” (Morna Hooker, on Philippians 1.19-36, in The New Interpreter’s Bible, p493).

Someone has said, “There is no way to get through life if you don’t know how to get through suffering. And there is no way to get through suffering unless you have living hope” (Tim Keller).

Listen to this blessing Paul writes near the end of his letter to his friends in Rome:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing;

so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

I. Let’s talk about that little word, “hope.”

A. In everyday speech we use the word “hope” in a careless way—as if hope were merely wishing.

We say, “I hope it doesn’t rain.” “I hope I win the lottery.” “I hope the cold weather is over.” ”I hope my daughter calls today.” “I hope this pain is nothing serious.” “I hope my money doesn’t run out.”

B. But if you look the word up in your dictionary, you will find that “hope” is a stronger word than that. My dictionary defines “hope” as “a desire accompanied by expectation.”

In true hope, both desire and expectation are included.

Sometimes we expect things we don’t desire.

Some people are always expecting the worst. They are the pessimists.

Some people are always expecting the best. They are the optimists.

Someone said, “An optimist is a guy who doesn’t have much experience.”

We often strongly desire things we never expect to receive.

People say, “hoping against hope”—which means wishing hard for something that almost certainly isn’t going to happen.

But hope—in the sense that it’s used in the Bible—is earnest desire combined with strong assurance.

II. Think about how your desires have changed over the years.

A. When you were young, your greatest desires may have been to be successful in your career, to own a good house, to drive a nice car, to have a loving husband and happy children, and someday to retire, maybe do a little traveling and enjoy your “golden years.”

But the “golden years” are over now. Those things are mostly in the past. Those hoped-for things are now memories—good memories, indeed and worth treasuring, but still memories.

B. But if we have been walking with Jesus along life’s way, other desires have taken possession of our hearts: desires that look forward to things that are still in the future.

Here are some of my desires in the last chapter of my life:

…the desire that God will become more and more real in my life.

…the desire that I will become more and more tenderhearted, kind, humble—more like Jesus.

…the desire that my life will have blessed others…maybe guided someone to God.

…the desire to meet Jesus, reunite with those I have loved, and make new friends in the Better Country.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible says, “The memory of the righteous is a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7). I hope my memory blesses someone.

III. But what grounds do we have for expecting those things we so earnestly desire?

A. Hope, in the Bible, is assurance—assurance that what we so earnestly hope for, will surely happen.

That is what St. Paul means when he prays: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Earlier in the Book of Romans (8:31-32) Paul wrote: “What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?”

In the book of Hebrews we read, “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…” (Hebrews 6:19).

B. The Bible both sharpens our desire and nourishes our expectation.

A psalmist said to God: “You show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

And again, in the very next psalm: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding your likeness.” (Psalm 17:15).

St. Peter wrote about hope: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”  (1 Peter 1:3-4).

C. Sometimes the Bible stimulates our imaginations to even see into glory. John paints this picture of Glory for us in the next-to-the-last chapter of the book of Revelation:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,

and the sea was no more.

And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;

and I heard a great voice from the throne saying,

“Behold the dwelling of God is with men.

He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more,

neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more,

for the former things have passed away.”

and he who sat upon the throne said,

“Behold, I make all things new.”

CONCLUSION

Our text calls God “the God of hope.”

God is the God of Hope because God is the foundation on which all hope is built.

God is the God of Hope because God is the builder who builds hope into our lives.

God is the God of Hope because God is the object of our hope.

Our text speaks of being filled with joy and peace and abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit is to live with the enjoyment—in anticipation—of our glorious inheritance.

To abound in hope is to live with a peaceful heart—knowing that all will be well, all tears wiped away, all sorrows forgotten.

To abound in hope is to have the strength to be faithful—to the very end.

A STORY

This story of hope comes from Rwanda where a few years ago there was a terrible war between the two tribes of the country—the Hutu and the Tutsis. The Hutus were killing the Tutsis and the Tutsis were retaliating by killing the Hutus.

One day a band of Hutu killers stormed into an orphanage run by Catholic sisters.

“Point out the Tutsi children!” they shouted.

But the nuns refused. “We only have children of God here!” they said.

Furious, the killers herded the whole orphanage to a mass grave.

The sisters began to sing a hymn of praise. The children picked it up.

That didn’t faze the killers.

One by one the sisters were killed. Then they began killing the children.

But the children kept singing until there was just one treble voice wafting into the sky.

Even when only a single child was left, that child was still singing.

(adapted from Miriam Adeney’s book, Kingdom Without Borders, p234)

This prayer comes from a holy man who lived more than a thousand years ago. He is known as St. Bede, the Venerable. He died in A.D. 675, more than 1000. But among other writings, he left us this prayer:

O Christ, our Morning Star,

splendor of Light Eternal,

shining with the glory of the rainbow,

come, waken us from the grayness of our apathy,

and renew in us your gift of hope.

Romans 12:17-21: God’s Prescription for Dealing with Difficult People

INTRODUCTION

A number of years ago I worked in the state prison in Mt. Pleasant. I was the librarian.

Some of the inmates had a saying—I heard it many times—“I don’t get mad; I just get even.”

It is true—even though some of them had done terrible things that hurt people, many of them still had grudges against those they believed had hurt them.

When I taught school back in Kansas, some of the children told me this twisted version of the Golden Rule: “Do to others as they do to you!”

It’s human nature to want to hurt the people who hurt us. It’s part of our fallen nature.

And it leads to endless suffering.

In some countries blood feuds have gone on for centuries. Nobody remembers how they started. They just remember that the other tribe—or people of the other religion or family or ethnic group—had done something bad, and the cycle of revenge had gone on and on.

I remember when I was teaching school that the worst bullies in the school were the boys whose dads told them: “Don’t take anything off of anyone! If someone gives you a hard time; hit him—hard!” These were the kids who went around with a chip on their shoulder, always itching for a fight.

The slight they reacted to may have been no more than what they interpreted as a “dirty look.” So they would retaliate.

But we grown-ups don’t hit people.

We just hurt inside. We let injustices eat on us. We are tempted to get bitter…to bear a grudge…to tell our friends about the person who has hurt us…

I learned a new word recently. It is schadenfreude (SHAHD-en-FROID-a). Schadenfreude means “rejoicing at the misfortune of others.”

Have you ever felt a surge of joy when someone who hurt you got his come-uppance? If you haven’t, you are a holy person. Christ is reigning in your heart.

God has a given us a better way of dealing with those who hurt us.

In Romans 12:17-21 we read these words:

Repay no one evil for evil,

but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends upon you,

live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God;

for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink;

for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I. It seems natural to try to overcome evil with evil—to fight fire with fire. But if I set out to “overcome with evil” I suffer in two ways.

A. When I hate the person who hurt me, I have become evil myself.

I have allowed hatred to take me over.

My hatred takes over my mind. The more I think how evil the other person is, the more I think that I am more virtuous than I really am.

And I think my opponent is more evil than he really is.

I have let my opponent turn me into a hater.

I once knew an elderly woman who so hurt by injustices she experienced many years before, that she was still bitter years after her enemies had died.

She brought up her hurts in conversation over and over—sort of like someone who has an ugly sore and constantly wants to uncover it and show it to you.

She made herself miserable and made everyone around her miserable.

She probably had good qualities, but when I think of her, all I can remember is that bitterness.

Philip Yancey tells of a conversation he had with an immigrant rabbi from Nazi Germany. “Before coming to America,” the rabbi said, “I had to forgive Hitler.”

“Why?” Yancey asked.

The rabbi said, “I did not want to bring Hitler inside me to my new country.”

To hate—to bear a grudge—is to let your tormentor take up residence in your head and make you miserable for the rest of your life.

That is what it means to be overcome with evil.

B. The second problem with letting evil overcome me is that it makes me blind to my own faults.

I have noticed that when two people hate each other, each person is thinking the other is the guilty one. Both sides think the other one owes him or her an apology.

Both justify themselves as 100% right and their opponent as 100% wrong.

That is my experience with family feuds—both sides are sure the other side is guilty.

The truth is, to make peace, people have to apologize, or, at least, to extend friendliness—even though they think the fault lies with the other person.

But sometimes when one asks for forgiveness—even though he thinks it is 95% the other person’s fault—the other one is so startled that she realizes that she also bears responsibility and apologizes too.

We have some dear friends whose daughter has become estranged from them.

The daughter has made accusations against her father. Our friends think their daughter has what’s called “a false memory.”

The daughter has tried to come back and introduce her parents to their granddaughter.

They have refused—until she apologizes. But she refuses to apologize because she believes she is in the right.

It’s so sad. Our friends will never meet their granddaughter.

I know I’ve told this story before, but I’ve only one life to draw my memories from and this illustrates my point.

Back in the 1960s I was teaching junior high. This was a time when there was a lot of racial strife in our community.

In those days some of our African-American students cultivated a look of hatred to show their contempt for authority.

James was African-American.

One day in class James was looking at me with that mean look.

I said, “James, quit looking at me in that ugly way.”

The next day James went to the principal and said, “Mr. Sommerville said I was ugly.”

The principal came back with James, called me out of the classroom, and told me what James had told him. I realized that what I had actually said was not what James had heard. What had come out of my mouth was not what had gone into James’s ear.

I took James back into the classroom and addressed the class—because I had made my remark in front of the class—and I said, “James heard me say that he was ugly. I’m sorry. I apologize. James is not ugly. He is a good looking young man.”

James was satisfied with the apology, and the class went on.

At the end of the hour, as the children filed past me to go to their next class, James looked up at me and said, “Mr. Sommerville. I ain’t never going to give you no hard time again.” The rest of the year went pretty well with James and me.

Sometimes it’s right to apologize even when you’re in the right—because that‘s not the way the other person sees it.

II. Jesus shows us how to “overcome evil with goodness.”

A. On the cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And a few weeks after Jesus made that prayer; many of those people, his former enemies, who witnessed his death came to faith and became followers of Jesus.

The captain of those soldiers who crucified Jesus came to faith that very day. He was an answer to Jesus’ prayer. He looked at the crucified Jesus and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

B. To overcome evil with goodness, we need to take the evil and give back goodness.

I read about a man who was so good at repaying evil with good that someone said that to do him an injustice was a sure way to have him be your friend for life.

Difficult? Yes. Impossible, without the grace of God.

Our text from Romans said, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”

I take it that the “burning coals” will melt his hard heart and make him sorry for what he has done.

I warn you. It won’t always work. He or she may still hate you. But you will have overcome the evil in your own heart.

A young Muslim became a Christian. His friends were baiting him.

“What have you gotten out of this Christianity business?” they taunted.

His answer: “I can forgive.”

I have seen this happen, even here at Village Place. Two people were offended with each other and were telling their friends about it.

Each of them blamed the other.

I don’t know the details. It tried not to listen.

But just recently, I saw—on several occasions—one of those people extending friendliness to the other. I am not sure what is going on, but it looks beautiful.

CONCLUSION

A young pastor of our acquaintance started a church about ten years ago.

A member of the church board made life difficult for the pastor from the beginning.

The pastor longed for the day when this board member’s term of service would be over.

The board member and her husband had a business. It was difficult time in the economy and the business was shaky.

The pastor made it a point to pray every day for the success of the business that belonged to this woman and her husband.

The business succeed.

After she was off the board, she and her husband became close friends and supporters of their pastor.

A year ago she and her husband planned a trip to the Holy Land. She invited the pastor and his wife to go along—all expenses paid.

The two couples are good friends now, and share meals in one another’s homes.

That pastor did what he could to bless the one who was makng life hard for him.

And it worked.

When he told me the story, I said, “Well, that’s one story you can’t use as a sermon illustration, but I can.”

Maybe a boss, a fellow-worker, or a friend has wronged you...

The scripture I read encourages us to overcome evil with good.

Whenever those resentful thoughts come into your mind, give them to God.

Ask him to pour his healing love into your heart.

Ask God to help you forgive that person and let go of those hurtful thoughts.

If the person who wronged you is still alive, say a prayer for him or her.

Think of what good you can do them.

If he or she is no longer living, just let it go.

Ask God to help you forgive.

Ask God to help you forget.

Ask him to heal you.

Love everyone—even the unlovable. Pray for everyone—even your enemies. Forgive everyone—even if they aren’t sorry.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who despitefully use you.”

“Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”