Has anyone else ever wished lightning would fall from the sky and consume a given person or group of people? Especially in this election season? As I read the following devotional on Monday morning, I really had to stop and think. As much as I try not to think about it, and as much as I sometimes wish certain people or groups of people would just cease to exist... Jesus is more than willing to forgive them for THEIR sins, just as He is willing to forgive me of MY sins. It was a humbling thought for me. If a man or woman will turn his/her heart to God and sincerely seek forgiveness, that's all it takes to make them right with God... regardless. We also have a responsibility to forgive (uh-oh). God wants us to turn from our feelings of "get what's comin' to 'em" to releasing others from our own judgment on them and seeking the move of God's hand in their lives. Take a look...
Forgive Them
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). In this short prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ prayed from the Cross, we can learn a great deal about forgiveness.
First, we can have confidence that our sins can be completely forgiven. There are people who say: "I don't feel forgiven. I have confessed and repented but I just don't feel forgiven." Feelings have nothing to do with forgiveness. Forgiveness has everything to do with the promise of God, who said that when you come to Him and confess, He'll forgive you, and that settles it!
Second, this prayer of forgiveness assures us that the vicious cycle of hatred and sin ends on the Cross. When Jesus was suspended between heaven and earth, He bore our sin—all hatred, viciousness, and anger. It is as if God is saying that if we want to know where our anger, hatred, bitterness and unforgiveness end, we should look at the Cross.
The third thing about this prayer from the Cross is that our Lord practiced what He preached. After teaching forgiveness, had the Lord Jesus Christ cursed those who crucified Him, all of what He taught would have been swept away into the dustbin of history.
Forgiveness is a decision of the will. Your feelings and your emotions inevitably will follow, but you have to make a willful decision to forgive. When you do, the power of the Cross will set you free.
Prayer: God, thank You for teaching us so much about forgiveness through Your example on the Cross. Thank You for forgiving me. Help me to forgive others. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13).
