Not to Erase the Good

Scripture References: Ezekiel 18:21-22; Colossians 3:13

A couple enjoyed a wonderful twenty—year marriage. Compatible in every way, it seemed the perfect match. When he died, the widow proved inconsolable. Her life had come to an end, and she had lost her only hope for love in this world. Then her husband’s secretary dropped off his personal papers, and in them the widow discovered his affairs with other women.

Instantly, the woman’s grief turned to rage, and her love to hate. She despised her husband for his deception. She removed all memory of him from their home and refused to hear his name spoken, even by their children. When she wrote to Dear Abby she confessed that she wished him alive just so she could inflict on him the grief his immorality had brought her. Abby wisely urged her to vent her anger with a counselor. Further, she wrote, their marriage was no less wonderful though her husband had been unfaithful.

How often we hold friendships and relationships hostage to disagreements and disputes. We forget the good done, the virtue shown, and the worth proven, just because of a failure or an argument. We sometimes allow one mistake to wipe out a lifetime of love and friendship. Like fire consuming a museum, anger can destroy in a few minutes what it has taken years to collect. Pride will keep us from forgiving. All other feelings can be assuaged by reason, but pride alone remains adamant against grace.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.