Psalms 103:10 — He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 

Did you hear it?

“I just want everybody to know, to you, I forgive you. You took something very precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again but I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul. You hurt me, you hurt a lot of people, but God forgive you, and I forgive you.”

Nadine Collier is the daughter of Ethel Lance, one of the victims of Dylann Roof who opened fire in a Charleston church on Wednesday night and killed nine people. She was speaking at his bond hearing.

Are you amazed at the forgiveness she is extending? I am, and I shouldn’t be. Hers was a representative voice — many of the other relatives also spoke with a note of forgiveness. I can’t look into their hearts, so I don’t know if they have truly managed that forgiveness … But I know that they know they should forgive, and they are trying to put their faith into action. Another said:

“For me, I’m a work in progress and I acknowledge that I’m very angry. We have no room for hate. We have to forgive. I pray God on your soul. And I also thank God I won’t be around when your judgment day comes with him.”

This is what happens when a Christian really seizes hold of the way God feels about forgiveness. How many times are we to?d to forgive one another? One of my favorites is a “one another” verse, “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” (Colossians 3:13 KJV). It stresses the ideas of reciprocity and of the transmission of divine forgiveness. 

The thing is, forgiveness is part of God’s essential character, it’s how He describes Himself, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:7 KJV). God has never dealt with us as we deserve, and has forgiveness our sins at the cost of His Son’s blood. The Christian who seeks a forgiving nature is modeling Himself or Herself on God, seeking to be transformed into the image of Christ — it is a noble pursuit.

So why am I surprised by the generosity of the relatives of those murdered in the Emanuel AME church? Sadly, it’s because that kind of living out Christian faith in the public eye is rare, all too rare. God bless those who are displaying divine forgiveness tonight.