despicable me

A school shooter who killed three people in Ohio has been in the news due to the fact that he wore a shirt with the word "killer" on it, then laughed at, cursed, and flipped off a court room containing the families of his victims.  There are scant few things I can imagine that could be more painful and galling.

However, thinking back to my post on forgiveness from a few years ago, even these actions pale in comparison to how disgusting my sinful nature is to God in His holiness.  When Paul writes about Christ dying for us when we were yet sinners, that is not much unlike if one of the aforementioned family members voluntarily gave up his or her life to save that despicable killer who took his son, or her brother, or his grandson, or her nephew.

In my own humanity, if I were in the families' position I would not be capable of forgiving the man.  It just would not be possible, even though this is what we are instructed to do in Scripture.  I would have to hope that God would grant me the grace to allow me to forgive where I would not be able to under my own power.  That would be my one and only hope.  I pray these families are granted that same grace and peace that I would hope for.  I simply cannot imagine how horrifying being in that situation would be.