Is Nelson Mandela Now at Peace?

The headline had it wrong. I’m not blaming NBC news, they were only quoting the current president of South Africa. But presidents even get things wrong sometimes.

The headline and the quote, “He is now at peace,” was just a reference to Nelson Mandela’s burial. But Nelson Mandela was at peace long before he passed away. I’m not trying to deify him or any of the many things we do with beloved figures after their deaths. But one thing Nelson Mandela was not––a man of resentment.

He grew up in poverty with little opportunity to make something of himself because of the racist apartheid system in South Africa. He fought against that system and wound up in prison because of it. He was maligned and mistreated. But in the decades he spent behind bars, he made friends with even the guards who kept him confined.

After his release he said, "As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."

I know many professing followers of Jesus who have far fewer reasons to be angry, yet live in their own prisons of resentment and bitterness. If you cannot forgive, you cannot have peace. If you will not let go, you will not be happy. The anger you are holding on to is choking your joy and it keeps the battle raging in your heart against the one you are refusing to forgive. And you are the one who is paying the price. You and the others who live with you.

Mandela was at peace long before he passed away. He was at peace the moment he decided to bury the offenses against him. 

Is it time for you leave that prison behind and find that kind of peace?

"Get rid of all bitterness...along with every form of malice" (Ephesians 4:31).