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A True Test of Forgiveness

October 15, 2014
Many believers in West Africa lack spiritual support.

Many believers in West Africa lack spiritual support.

The standard of forgiveness that Jesus set for us acts as one of the biggest hurdles of being imitators of Christ. Still, David wanted to overcome that hurdle.

David (not his real name) met two CRWM missionaries in West Africa earlier this year and began attending their weekly Bible studies a month later. It was here that he started asking questions about forgiveness.

“This man is indescribably hungry and thirsty for fellowship and teaching,” said the missionaries. “But he lacks the support he needs in his community from other Christians.”

The missionaries prayed with David and continued to discuss what they read in the Bible, supporting him in his efforts to be a more forgiving person.

They also watched as David got the spiritual support he needed from other members of the Bible study with whom they have been working for many years.

Then the real test came.

David was walking along the city streets when a group of young men approached him. They were from a different tribe than David. Because of recent tribal tensions, this was reason enough to want David dead. The group surrounded David and began relentlessly beating him and throwing rocks at him.

A group of soldiers found David lying on the street with several cuts and bruises, barely alive. They brought him to a hospital, where he made a gradual recovery.

Even when David was physically well enough to go back to work, the emotional trauma of the beating had a long-term effect on David and his family.

“When David came to the Bible study, he was quite thin,” said the missionaries. “He and his wife were living off only her wages because David was too afraid to return to the streets where he had been so badly beaten.”

After a few months, David heard a knock on the door. It was the soldiers and they had captured the men who were responsible for his attack. The soldiers were there to offer David a chance for revenge—a front row seat as they would beat up the group of men.

But the lessons in forgiveness were hard at work in David’s heart.

“David refused,” said the missionaries. “He said he could never give someone permission to do to another human being what had been done to him. He said that he forgave them and was praying that they would have new hearts.”

Since the attack, David’s health has improved and he has gained back much of his weight. Praise God for healing this man and for the Christ-like example that he has demonstrated. Continue to pray with him that others will follow Christ as a result of his actions.