“I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” – 1 John 2:12
Pastor Fred Winters was killed at First Baptist Church in Maryville in 2009 when Terry Sedlacek entered a Sunday morning worship service on March 8 and shot Fred in the pulpit. Media outlets immediately descended on Maryville, pushing the story into national headlines. But at Fred’s funeral, there was a prominent theme of forgiveness for the man who killed him.
Fred’s widow, Cindy Winters, when asked about her husband’s killer, said, “I do not have any hatred or even hard feelings toward him. We have been praying for him. One of the first things that my daughter said to me after this happened was, ‘You know, I hope that he comes to learn to love Jesus through all of this.’ We are not angry at all, and we really firmly believe that he can find hope and forgiveness, and peace through this by coming to know Jesus. And we hope that that happens for him.”
On the account of Jesus Christ, we have been unconditionally forgiven from our sins – past, present, and future. Today, in prayer, praise the Lord for forgiving you.
“We have a free, full, final, forever forgiveness in the atoning work of Christ.” – J. Sidlow Baxter
God’s Word: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12
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