“Forgiving And Welcoming”

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

The recent story of the Thai soccer team stuck in the cave was an international sensation, and rightly so. So many elements of the story touched our hearts and showed us that there is good in the species made in God's image. I'd like to highlight one more element of that story.

After divers discovered the boys and their coach were alive, many people made return trips into the cave to bring food, oxygen bottles, and lights to them. They also carried letters from their families who were anxiously waiting outside. One of the most touching letters is the one in the picture: the letter to the coach—the man who had been responsible for their children when all of this took place.

And I don't need to say much about it, except to point out that in any language, forgiveness sounds good. Those parents' common attitude toward the coach stands as a powerful example of how we, as Christ's people, ought to think about those who have made really bad choices.

Sin is a trap that we enter by our own choice and from which we cannot escape by our own power. And while it is tempting to stand in the safety of salvation and be bitter toward someone "who got themselves into this mess" as the coach had done, how much better would we be to learn the lesson of these parents (the same attitude that the older brother should have had in Jesus' prodigal story in Luke 15)? Our task is not to be upset at the sinner, but to be passionate & excited about his rescue.

- Dan Lankford, minister

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