Thank you for helping to support Peace Devotions through your prayers, likes, and shares.
If you’d like to support our ministry financially, you can donate here.
Words from the Cross 1
What's your favorite board game? It feels great when the game is going well, but it feels bad when other players make you pay and it can be easy to hold a grudge. Today we join Pastor Tim Hartwig at the foot of the cross to hear Jesus' words of mercy and forgiveness both for those hurting him and for you.
Luke 23:34
My kids love to play Monopoly, but I’ve observed something about the way they play. When they land on someone’s property and have to pay, they often hold a grudge. They can’t wait for that same player to land on one of their properties and hopefully it costs them a lot more.
Well I know where my kids get that from. From me. You probably recognize the same thing about yourself, that it’s very easy for us to hold grudges.
We have a saying “don’t get even, get ahead.” We don’t want someone just to suffer as much as we have we want them to suffer worse.
Thankfully, Jesus didn’t take that attitude with us. He didn’t even take that attitude with those that nailed him to the cross. The first words that we hear recorded from Jesus from the cross are these
“Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
Jesus had every reason to hold a grudge. He had been falsely tried, he was innocent, the only man to live a perfect life and yet they nailed him to the cross. Even there though, in love for us, he prayed for our forgiveness. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”
Jesus loves you. That prayer includes his attitude for you. He has interceded before the Father and your behalf and the Father has heard. So your sins are forgiven. Take to heart the words that Jesus spoke from the cross and be assured that God loves you, amen.
