A simple living example.
This week has seen events of extreme vileness and extreme godliness - all at the same site and at the same event. Elementary schoolgirls were take captive by a deranged man intent on molestation and ultimately suicide in a one-room school in an Amish community. When this man's plans were thwarted by the arrival of civil authorities, he had barricaded the entrances in such a way as to give himself time to execute several of the girls before killing himself - "ruining the lives of the girls and their families" - or did he?

Before the girls were buried, several of the families who had lost precious, innocent daughters had made simply astonishing statements. That had forgiven the man who had perpetrated the atrocity. They had even stated that they were glad that it had happened to their daughters, who were God-fearing and God-trusting instead of to girls who did not have a relationship with God. What grace! What faith! What unselfish love for the children of others.

Would those parents have stopped the man if they could? Of course they would. Do they grieve for the children's lives that will never be? Of course they do; but at the same time they rejoice in the the faith that they have concerning their children's faith; and their promised rewards.

One of my favorite songs when I was a child was "Faith of Our Fathers." One of the lines of a stanza reads: "How sweet would be their children's fate, if they, like them, could die for thee."
The reality is that dying for one's faith is often easier than living one's faith. In living our faith we may need to forgive the child molester, the murderer, the adulterer, the thief, the loved one who betrays or injures. Living one's faith requires not only that we forgive those who sin against us; who hurt us or our loved ones; but that we forgive ourselves of our own secret sins as we repent and confess them to the Father. Only the forgiven can be forgiving; and when we harbor unforgiveness, we cannot fulfill Christ's commands to "love our enemies" and to "pray for those who despitefully use you." Yes, even if the ones using us wrongly are those we should expect to be loving us, protecting us, shielding us from Satan's darts.

"Are we there yet?" Are we made over into the image of Christ so that we can live our faith? I don't think any of us reach that full level in this life; but we can set that destination in our guidance system and let God take over the task.

The right sad thing today is forgiving the unforgiveable - whether it is the horrible atrocity or the betrayal perpetrated by our loved one (or ourself), or the insult delivered by the best friend or worst fiend. Remember that "Forgive them, they know not what they do" was not spoken to penitents; but to the lynch mob murdering the the innocent Lamb of God.