By Kerry Knight, Minister for the Emerald Beach Church of Christ
George Washington Carver once said, “I will never let another man ruin my life by making me hate them.” Carver was an African American and an innovator during a very difficult time in our country’s history after the Civil War. His grand contribution was obvious because he walked in innocence, whereas others were caught up in bitterness over the war, slavery, and racism. Carver’s secret was that he would go into the woods each and every night and pray for God to forgive the people who had mistreated him. In other words, he followed the example of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God, said, “He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant” (Isaiah 53:2). Also, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth,” verse 7.That’s why our Lord is called the Lamb of God.
During this season of remembering the greatest, selfless act in all recorded history, His dying for the sins of the world on Calvary’s Cross, let us not forget that the Christian’s life is all about imitation. I’m not speaking of you literally dying on a wooden cross, but rather embracing your own innocence and forgiving spirit. Paul would write, “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). Remember, from the cross on which He hung, he uttered the words, “Father forgive them. They know not what they do.”
