Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do."
Such a statement would have been looked at as being lofty and above the filth and rabble of daily life. To be able to stand and say, "I forgive you" is looked upon as being something that does not fit into the fabric of our world.
Jesus preached forgiveness....
Jesus taught forgiveness....
Jesus pointed out that we have to forgive our enemies...
Pray for those who persecute us....
He said it at the Temple...
He spoke it from the hills surrounding Jerusalem...
They were words that conveyed high and lofty attitudes for the masses....
But unlike others who spoke similar, lofty, ideological concepts about the human condition...
Jesus lived his own teachings out in the most horrifying event a man could go through.
The cross.....
Jesus didn't throw out platitudes of how life should be...
He spoke the truth about how God expects us to live.
He said the hard things that caused people to stop and think about their current way of living.
This whole deal about forgiving others was not a suggestion...
It wasn't a divine hint about how to get into heaven...
It was the root and base foundation for everything God stands for.
Forgiveness!!!
Hanging on the cross....
Experiencing pain that I will never be able to comprehend..
Jesus' first words were...."Father, forgive them."
When those words were spoken, they weren't directed just to the crowd surrounding his cross....the religious rulers, the Roman guards....
No, those incredible words were spoken to impact time and eternity from that point on. He spoke them about me and you. They were the mortar and cement that built a bridge so that God could receive me into His kingdom.
Those words became the banner that flies over every heart that confesses that Jesus is Lord and Savior of our lives....and that God, the Father, raised Him from the dead.
How could God do such a thing as forgive me?
Because Jesus paid my sin debt.
Oh, if we could ever lay hold of the truth about how much God loves us, it truly would change everything. It would take us into a new way of seeing the world and those around us, and cause us to act in ways we thought we never could. The sheer act of forgiving those who have hurt us liberates us, and frees us from the muck and mire of this world that seeks to keep us in darkness.
Freedom in forgiveness...
Freedom in Christ...
He showed us the way to carry out such an idea as forgiving.
Think on these things today...
God on you...
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