Mornings With Jesus 2016: 14-Day Reading PlanSample

“I’ll never forgive him for that.” “I can’t forgive her for that.” “Some things can’t be forgiven.”

An unforgiving spirit is like rancid air. It’s like trying to carry on normal living in a home with spoiled, six-day-old raw chicken sitting on the counter. Eventually, you have to move or die. And if you move, how are you going to put the house on the market with a smell like that?

One of Jesus’s oft-revisited themes was forgiveness. And He was a master at it, at BIG forgiveness. He forgave His earthly parents for not understanding His God-given call. He forgave His disciples, repeatedly, for their ignorance. He continually ministered to people who were bent on His destruction. He forgave His murderers, and forgave His closest friends who deserted Him when He needed them most. Betrayal. False accusation. Abandonment. False imprisonment. False conviction. Fraudulent sentencing. Bullied. Misunderstood.

We could argue, “Yes, but it was easy for Him to forgive. He’s God the Son.” But His Spirit lives within those of us who’ve committed our lives to Him and received His forgiveness of all the wrongs we’ve done. That Spirit—the one that forgives betrayal, false accusation, abandonment, bullying, misunderstanding . . .

The men who pounded the spikes into His wrists and feet, who crammed a crown of thorns on His head, who stabbed at His bare side with spears heard Jesus pray, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

What grudge could I ever hold that Jesus would say to me, “Oh, well, yes. You hang onto your lack of forgiveness for that. Some things just can’t be forgiven”? —Cynthia Ruchti

FAITH STEP: Will you bravely pray this prayer? “Jesus, I think I can’t forgive ________ for ________. I ask You to do the forgiving for me, by the power of Your Spirit living within me. You forgive BIG. That’s what I need.”