One of my heroes of the faith is Corrie Ten Boom who along with her sister, Betsie and their elderly father Casper, gave refuge in their home to Jewish people seeking to escape the ravages of the Nazi Holocaust during WWII.

Ultimately, she was imprisoned in Ravensbruck concentration camp where she both endured and witnessed cruelty and inhumanity from the hands of her captors, as well as seeing her beloved sister die.

But she learned how to forgive her enemies. She once wrote,

“Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”

Her ability to forgive her enemies was the direct result of her relationship with Jesus. Because she understood how much she had been forgiven by God, she was able to forgive those who openly despised her.

“When we confess our sins,” she said, “God buries them in the deepest part of the ocean and then puts up a sign that reads, ‘No fishing.’”

Corrie once wondered about the accuracy of her illustration as she could think of no Scripture which supported her idea.

She need not have worried however as the prophet Micah declared, “Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)

God forgives all our sin, past, present and future and for those of us who have embraced this truth, we are able, by God’s grace, to forgive others – even those who are our enemies.

This powerful truth is at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.