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IMAGINE THE FORGIVENESS

By Steve Scurich

JESUS SAID, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.”  AND THE SOLDIERS GAMBLED FOR HIS CLOTHES BY THROWING DICE.  [LUKE 23:34]

This is a verse I have read many times and yet it never seems to lose its impact! I think about the movie Passion of The Christ (which does a great job of displaying the brutal torture and mockery Jesus endured for us).  He was able to look at all those rejecting Him at a moment when most (if not all) of us would want to seek revenge, and ask for God’s forgiveness of them. If God can forgive their behavior, He can forgive anything!

Since I have grow to be stronger in my faith as a Christian, I have come to understand what His forgiveness means.  I feel like a new person compared to my life before baptism.  I look back at the things I have done, all the times I have rejected God, and the shortsightedness I had on life, and I realize that I did not completely know what I was doing.  Evil had its tight grip on me.  I let it in, I let it control me, and I let it soil my lens to God’s glory and grace. 

So what does a dirty lens have to do with anything?  The dirtier our lives become in sin, the dirtier our looking-lens to God becomes.  I believe this is why, many times, we need to experience a true hardship in our lives in order to finally get right with Jesus.  Despite how dirty we make our lens, God keeps trying to shine His light into us.  Think of a magnifying glass. The tighter you focus light through it, the more power the light has to burn something.  Similarly, the smaller we make the area of our lens for God to shine through, the more it can pierce our soul at a very specific point.  Ultimately, we either stop rejecting Him and clean ourselves up to see His glory all around us, or we die like an ant being burned by a magnifying glass.  The choice is ours, but here is the good news, the lens is always set to point toward God.  Always has been and always will be.  We just need to step up, look through it, and accept what we see as truth.  No matter how many times we go back for another view, God is the same; He loves sharing His glory to our watchful eyes, and He will forgive us NO MATTER WHAT.  We just shouldn’t wait too long…

QUESTION TO CONSIDER

Do you truly believe that God has the power and authority to forgive your sins no matter what?  Before you answer, ask yourself if you believe He is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth.  If so, how can He not have that authority?

PRAYER

God, I am a sinner.  You know my every thought, from before I was born and you made me to live for you as my Lord and King.  Please forgive my rejection of you, and wash my sins clean.  Help me to always remember how Jesus forgave us at a time that was most difficult.  Show me how to forgive those that do harm to me.  I need your strength.  Amen.