Forgiving a terrible hurt

Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13).

On February 9th, 1960, Adolph Coors was kidnapped and held for ransom. Seven months later he was shot to death and his body was left on a remote hillside. The killer was eventually caught, convicted, and sent to prison. Adolph Coors had a son who was fifteen years old at the time of the murder. The teen was devastated by his father’s death; the two of them had been very close. Young Ad grew up with an enormous hatred in his heart. He joined the Marine Corps; after his enlistment was up, he started working in the public sector. Yet through all those years his heart remained filled with hatred for the man who had killed his father. A bitter thought continually ran through his mind: "Oh, if I could only have caught him before the police did."

Then in 1975, Ad became a Christian. He became very active in Prison Fellowship and in visiting the penitentiary—the very same penitentiary that housed his father’s killer. The leader of his group, Dale Morris, asked him one day, "Have you forgiven the man who killed your father?" He answered, "Yes, in my heart I have forgiven him." Dale persisted: "Have you been to him personally and have you forgiven him, and not only that, have you asked him to forgive you?" At that point, young Ad grew angry and said, "Why should he forgive me?" Morris answered: "Because you hated him for so long."

As a result of this conversation, Ad Coors prayed to God and reached an important decision. He went to the prison carrying a Bible for his father’s killer; in that book he wrote the following words: "I’m down here to see you today. As a Christian, I have been commanded by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to ask for your forgiveness. I forgive you for the sins you have committed against our family, and I ask you to forgive me for the hatred I have had in my heart for you."

The visit brought Ad a freedom he had never experienced before. Eventually he was able to say these remarkable words about his father’s killer: "I am able to love that man, Joseph Corbin, because of the love Jesus Christ has given in my life."

That, my friend, shows the power of forgiveness to change lives. That is the power which Christ gives to those who love and trust Him.