What if Forgiveness Is the Key to Your Own Freedom?

Forgiveness That Frees the Brokenhearted

Phillip and Laurie seemed like the perfect couple. Winsome. Steady. Parents of three beautiful children. Their home became a gathering point for actors, producers, and screenwriters in Hollywood. Then tragedy struck. Laurie was killed in a drive-by shooting. The story made national headlines. Days later, Phillip stood before microphones and stunned reporters:

“As a Christian, my faith teaches me to forgive my enemies. I forgive my wife’s killers.”

The declaration went viral. Some called it noble; others called it naïve. Months later, the prison chaplain called Phillip.

“Sir, the man who killed your wife has become a Christian. He wants to ask for your forgiveness.”

Phillip froze. Suddenly, forgiveness wasn’t an idea—it was a face and a voice.

“My wife was a fantastic mother,” Phillip said later. “Her sudden death left an unfilled gap. I struggled to raise our children alone. And now this killer wanted me to release him?”

In that moment, Phillip realized: forgiveness isn’t about what someone deserves. It’s about what Christ has already done.

 “I knew I didn’t deserve mercy for everything I had done myself,” he said. “What right did I have to withhold forgiveness?”

Phillip forgave his wife’s murderer.

Christ's Love Is Strong Enough to Face the Wound

My own story runs along a similar road. As a boy, I watched my father devastate our family through an affair with my mother’s best friend, our neighbor. Daddy would return from work, wave to us kids, then walk straight into her house. He’d come home late, often drunk. One wrong word from Mommy, and she’d be slapped or punched.

The affair carried on in plain sight until, one day, the woman announced she had become a Christian. She ended the relationship and joined our church. At the close of every service, we had a tradition. We would turn to one another and sing a familiar song:

“I love you with the love of the Lord,
 I love you with the love of the Lord,
 Because I see in you the glory of the Lord,
 Yes, I love you with the love of the Lord.”

For weeks, I watched my mother nervously. I didn’t want her to have to face this woman. I feared it would hurt too much. But then one Sunday, I looked up and saw it happen. My mother was holding the hands of this woman, tears streaming down her face, singing those very words:

“I love you with the love of the Lord,
 Yes, I love you with the love of the Lord,
 Because I see in you the glory of the Lord.”

It was forgiveness made visible—not doctrine on a page, but grace embodied. It marked me forever.

5 Things Forgiveness Is Not

Before we define forgiveness, we need to clear the ground:

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