Love without Apology

Reaching Your World with Luis Palau

When my father died, my mother took over our family business in an effort to take care of her six children. At one point, someone purposely swindled her out of a lot of money in a business deal, causing my family very serious and deep financial pain, and poverty. The person responsible for putting us in this position never, ever came to apologize, but even so, my mother forgave him. As kids, we learned a big lesson from her. In life, sometimes people hurt us and they don’t get around to saying sorry. Sometimes, they don’t apologize because they don’t realize they hurt us. At other times, they don’t apologize because they don’t think they were wrong, or they aren’t remorseful, or they just don’t care. In any case, when we are hurt by someone, we have the choice to hold onto anger towards that person, or offer forgiveness and grace. The Bible says in Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” This week, consider who God might be calling you to forgive. And even if no apology has been made, forgive them. Our heavenly Father loves that! This is Luis Palau.