Warriors for Jesus Luke 23:34

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

Luke 23:34


Wow. Just wow.

Do you get the true magnitude of what he is saying? "Forgive them". He's asking forgiveness for his tormentors, for men who have beaten and starved him, mocked him, and nailed him to a cross. Can you see how totally amazing that is. I don't know about any of you, but I wouldn't be like that if people had nailed me to a cross. I don't see "forgive them" comming out of my lips anytime soon in a situation like that. Do you? I have a feeling that you wouldn't either. For one thing, you'd be mad as heck, for another, you'd probaly be dead. Just thinking about it makes me wince.

And it should make me, you, and everyone wince. Do you really understand just how much pain and humiliation that they made him feel? And to go through all that and just say "Forgive them" shows truly just how much Jesus was willing to give to us so that we could go to paradise. A few passages earlier, Jesus asks God to "Take this cup from me". He didn't want to have to do it.

He knew he was going to be in a lot of pain, and he asked God to take this burden from him, he was scared. We forget that while Jesus was a perfect human, he was just that, human. He had feelings just like we did, he was subjected to temtation just as we are. The only difference between us and Jesus, other then the fact that he was God in the flesh is that while we were both tempted, we have given in to the temptation. And we will continue to give in to it. We were born with a sin nature, and we are never going to lose that until we die.

Do you get it? Here was this human who had done no wrong, God's son, who knew what had to be done, asked His Father to take the burden from him in prayer, and still went to the cross because it was the only way to pay for our sins. He didn't need to do it, he could've refused. But he did it anyway. And then even when he is in emence pain, he begs forgivenness for his tormentors. Forgivenness for men he barely knew who spent the past few days spitting, taunting, beating, pressing thorns into his head, and the grand finale, the took nails and drove them through his hands and feet. And he forgives them.

I hope that someday we all understand the power of God's love and forgivennes completely. Because being able to do that is pretty amazing in my eyes.

Song of the Day: Our God is an Awesome God

Prayer:

Hey God, thanks.