Radical Forgiveness (Daily Devotional)

Hello and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you for joining us today for our daily devotion and in today’s devotion, we are going to take some time to look into the word of God and especially the words spoken by the Lord Jesus on the cross. We see that here are some things we can observe, that we can learn and definitely we can apply in our lives. We are going to look at Luke chapter 23, verses 33 to 37, ‘And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”’ We see here a terrible situation; we see that crucifixion being depicted. Crucifixion is a terrible and painful way of punishment ending in certain death. In fact, the English word, excruciating is derived from this word crucifixion, where a person was nailed on a beam or a cross and they suffered till they died. So, it is a form of slow, painful death and it was reserved for rebels and those who were criminals. Our Lord Jesus, He was crucified and He went through intense pain and suffering and ended in death. The other thing that we see here is that in the midst of all this, He was actually fulfilling certain words that were spoken, certain prophecies that were made by the prophets through the Spirit of God, it was being fulfilled right then and there. We see Psalm chapter 22, verses 17 and 18, where we read, ‘I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.’ These very words, in fact recounted by the gospel writer Luke and we see this happening. The other thing that we see that in the midst of all this intense pain and suffering, the Lord Jesus does something amazing, He prays to the Father for the very people, the creation who was actually inflicting pain and causing Him to suffer and He prayed that they would be forgiven. Verse 34, then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”’ So, we see the heart of the Lord, we see the compassion and the love that the Lord has and continues to have and the Lord had at those moments for those who were inflicting the greatest of pain physically upon Him. The challenge for us today is this, we read in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 30-32, it says, ‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.’ That is the challenge that is before us today, even as we look at this picture of great suffering and as we see the Lord Jesus, Him reaching out and forgiving the ones who were inflicting pain. We are challenged in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 32, to be kind to one another, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. So, today right before us, we have empowering of the Holy Spirit and the love of God as resources for us to live it out, to apply this out. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you for the greatest of examples of forgiveness that you set before us on the cross. Lord, even as we see the instruction in your word to forgive as God in Christ forgave us, we pray even by the power of your Holy Spirit and by your love which is shed for us in our hearts, that we would step out to forgive, that we would be willing to make that choice to forgive others the way you forgave us. Enable us to do this today, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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