The Power to Forgive

Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

The truth is, forgiving people who’ve hurt us isn’t always such an easy thing to do. But deep in our hearts, we know that unless we do forgive them, the hurt will just keep on hurting.

It doesn’t matter who you are, rich, poor, black, white, tall, short, each one of us has been hurt by someone. Sometimes, it’s a big thing, other times it’s a series of little things … but even a few little hurts, strung together one after another, can end up being a big thing, right?

Forgiving those people isn’t easy. It takes power. The question is, when you need to forgive someone but can’t (and that happens to all of us, not just you) where do you get the power to forgive?

Imagine being nailed to a cross, with nails driven through your wrists and through your Achilles tendons, and then being lifted up there to die of suffocation over several hours, in excruciating agony.

But even before they did that, they took the clothes off your back, beat you, mocked you, spat on you, though you’d done nothing wrong – nothing! – and now you’re hanging there in agony, and you look down to see those same soldiers gambling to see who’ll win your clothes. What do you think? What do you say?

Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

That’s the power of the Cross. That’s the power to forgive. Whenever I’m struggling to forgive someone, I look at Jesus hanging there on that Cross for me, for my sins. I look at the price He paid for my forgiveness.

And it’s at that point that you realise that the price we have to pay to forgive someone else, is a pittance compared to that.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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• Blessing
• Easter
• Forgiveness
• Jesus
• Love
• Pain & Suffering
• Power
• Sacrifice & Service