When a civil war broke out in Burundi, Theo’s world turned upside down.
Out of spite he stole a chicken from his neighbor Jeane, who belonged to the ruling ethnic group. But after escaping to Tanzania, Theo’s actions weighed on his conscience. Despite risks, he returned to Burundi to make it right.
When Theo found Jeane, he asked her to forgive him, offering some money for restitution. She was stunned.
“Forgive me and my family too!” she said. We “stole the iron sheets from the roof of your father’s house!”
In hindsight, Theo said, “I believed God had set me up to be part of a wonderful exchange of repentance and forgiveness.”
God’s story throughout the Bible is one of forgiveness from sins. As God promised through the prophet Ezekiel, He would not hold His people’s sins against them: if “they turn from their sins and do what is just and right” (Ez. 33:14). God said that if they would “return what they have stolen, and obey my life-giving laws . . . . then they will surely live and not die” (V.15).
God extends this same release to us today. Through the power of Christ’s Spirit, He will help us to repent of our wrongdoing. And because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we’ll be released from our sins. We, like Theo and Jeane, will be washed clean.
