August 19, 2001

Public Service Announcement.-

FORGIVENESS

One night in a church service, young woman felt the tug of God's message at her heart. She responded to the offer of salvation and gave her life and heart to Jesus. The young woman had a very rough past involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. As time went on, it was obvious that she intended to remain a faithful member of the church. She became involved in teaching children's classes, and was constantly encouraging others to come to the cross.

After a while, this faithful young woman caught the eye, and heart, of the preacher's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans, but this is when the problems began. About half of the church membership did not think a woman with a past such as hers was a suitable mate for a preacher's son. So the church began to argue and fight about the matter. A meeting was called to settle the issue once and for all. As the people made their arguments, tensions increased and the meeting started getting completely out of hand.

The young woman, already very upset about all the ffimgs being brought up about her past, began to cry. The preacher's son could not bear the pain it was causing his young wife-to-be, so he stood to speak. "I challenge every one of you to think carefully about what is happening here tonight. It really is NOT my friend's past that is on trial here. What all of you actually are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus Christ on trial. So, what is your verdict? Does the blood of Christ wash away sin .... or not?" As this realization struck the people, they all began to weep, seeing that they had in fact been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too often, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters, or even against ourselves. Forgiveness is at the very foundation of the Gospel of Christ. If the blood of Jesus could not cleanse the soul of every single person, then all of us would be in a lot of trouble. As the old hymn says,

"What can wash away my sins?

NOTHING, but the blood of Jesus."

-Submitted by Cindy Bunch@-