Perhaps you have heard of how a 94-year old former guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp was sentenced to imprisonment for complicity in the murder of 300,000 people.

He was 19 to 20 years old at the time of Holocaust, and now, after over 70 years, he has been tried and found guilty. One commentator noted that no one is ever too old to be punished. Old age does not excuse guilt. Apparently the guard did say he was sorry to one of the few survivors of the camp. I guess we could say that we are never too old to say we’re sorry.

This photograph on Wikimedia Commons was taken by Dnalor_01 and released under the license (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

When it comes to God, we are also never too old to receive his forgiveness. That is the Christian message. It is that, on the cross, everyone who has ever lived has been forgiven for all their sins, no matter how trivial and no matter how appalling those sins may be. Even if you regard yourself as the worst of all sinners, you are still forgiven. That is what grace is all about. And, because of the effectiveness of that grace, we can change and stop hurting ourselves and others.

Whoever you are, whatever you have done, however guilty you may feel, be you old or young, you are forgiven.

Accept the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

james.henderson@gracecom.org.uk

(Published on www.because.uk.com, and used by permission)

NOTE - BBC news article of 23 February 2015 refers to this case here.