Resurrection Week Student Devotions: “Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
By Jaclyn Adams (11th Grade, Faith West Academy)
We will never be able to fully understand God’s lov
e for us. However, He gives us little glimpses and examples of how large this love for us is in the Bible. His largest display of love for us is shown in the sacrifice of his one and only son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
We can not even comprehend the idea of giving up a child, but God had a greater plan. Jesus knew what his purpose was on this earth. He was to be the messiah, an ultimate sacrifice for all of the sinners in the world. Jesus was innocent, but God wants us to be with him so bad that He is willing to forgive all of our sins and give up His Son. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).
Think about it. Every time we sin it is like we are putting the nails in His hands, or the crown of thorns on His head. That should have been us on the cross. We should be publicly humiliated and beaten and crucified for our sin. But it is because of the grace of the God that He took our pain away.
The dictionary tells us that forgiveness is the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven. The verb form, forgive, means to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, mistake, or to cancel a debt. Because of this we do not have to sit and live in our sin. It is because of God that we are forgiven and that we can live with Him in eternity if we only trust in Him.
That seems fairly simple to trust the God that gave up his own life for your comfort. Even while Jesus was hanging on the cross, dying the death of a criminal and a sinner, He was forgiving us. He was forgiving the soldiers that had beat him and placed him on the cross, forgiving the people that mocked him and pushed him down, forgiving the sins and the sinners that were to come after He had gone. As He was hanging on the cross Jesus said, “Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This last saying of Jesus is a symbol of the love and forgiveness that He gives us everyday of our lives.