“They must be really good people—to be able to offer forgiveness like that.”

Usually poised and articulate, the news commentator was flustered and stumbled over his words. “I don’t know what to say…it just doesn’t make sense.”

The world is confused.

They just witnessed family and friends of those slain in Charleston stand and offer forgiveness to their loved one’s killer.

These broken people are supposed to be screaming for revenge. We expect them to cry out demanding blood. They are in anguish—surely they are not capable of rational thought.

Where is the rioting? The finger-pointing?

Those in the media hold panel discussions and attempt to analyze these people called “Christians.”  1-They were meeting on a Wednesday night. 2-They were studying the Bible. 3-They welcomed the young man with open arms.

They must be really good people…to be able to offer forgiveness like that.

It just doesn’t make sense.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

These devastated brothers and sisters in Christ are not offering forgiveness from their personal storehouses of goodness. At this moment, they walk through a kind of suffering and distress that most of us will never know.

They have nothing to offer—but they are personally acquainted with the One Who has offered His all.

These precious people are compelled to forgive because they have had forgiveness extended to them. At the foot of the cross, they met Someone—this One called Jesus—Who saved them and freed them from the burdens of their souls.

Friend, if the actions of these people called “Christians” seem unusual and illogical, I urge you to take a look at the One Whom they serve.

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17