Forgiveness and Peace

Tuesday 9/23/2014 4:38 AM

Yesterday I read Peter’s words in the sermon he preached in Caesarea, after following God’s call to go to the house of Cornelius. “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” We need the good news of peace in our world today. The past few weeks have been filled with news of the Islamic State cutting wide swaths of land in northern Iraq and in Syria, brutally killing any who do not convert to their interpretation of Islam, which they believe to be the only true Islam. Men are slaughtered; women and children are raped and sold as sex slaves, there are beheadings and other means of torture are applied to anyone who disagrees or attempts to stand in their way.

My devotional theme this week is forgiveness, a concept that seems to be completely foreign to the brand of Islam portrayed by ISIS and something that would be nearly impossible to do if one’s family had been savagely brutalized and murdered at their hands. Later in his sermon Peter describes Jesus as one who “went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” As followers of Christ, Christians are called to do the same. This morning I spent time praying that the Christians who have been brutalized by ISIS would have the grace to forgive and that the Spirit of God would convict the perpetrators of this violence and bring them to faith in Christ. That is the only hope for peace.