Learning to forgive - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13

Learning to forgive
In one of her books, Corrie Ten Boom tells how she was betrayed for hiding Jews during the Second World War by an individual in whom she had confided. Because of this treachery, all the members of her family were arrested, some were shot, the others were deported.
After the war, the betrayer was discovered, judged and convicted. Corrie wrote to him, "Your denunciation was the cause of the death of my 80-year-old father, my brother and his son, as well as the imprisonment of my sister, who died in an extermination camp. I have suffered much as a result, but I have forgiven you everything, remembering the forgiveness and the love of Jesus towards me. He entered my life and will enter yours also, if you confess your sins. At the cross of Calvary, he paid your debt and mine."
At a later date, the man wrote to Corrie: "I have prayed, ‘Jesus, if you can fill the hearts of your disciples with such love for their enemies, then there is hope for me. I confessed my wrongdoings to Him. I know that He has forgiven me and that I have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.' "
We admire that woman, who, as an object of God's love, wished to love like Him. But what about God's love towards the guilty such as we are? To be able to forgive us He had to deal out on His Son what we deserved. Who would refuse the forgiveness that God still offers today?
Today's reading: 1 Samuel 14:33-52