What The Cross has taught me about love and forgiveness

Before I say anything else, I want to say this- Thank you for allowing me to be open and honest on this blog. Thank you for allowing me to share my heart through these posts and thank you for continuing to read them. I certainly don't deserve your time or your energy but for some reason, you've chosen to continue reading. Thank you for that. I pray that you know without a doubt how close these posts are to my heart. Not because I feel the need to share words of wisdom, of which I have very few, but because they grow and they develop out of things that The Lord is teaching me in my own life. Very seldom do I sit down to write a post spur of the moment. They almost always come through times of prayer and reflection on situations in my own life and they also almost always grow and change throughout the days and weeks, before I even sit down to write them. That's what happened with today's post.

I feel like God has been teaching me so much recently about forgiveness and grace. Today that concept grew even more into the idea of love and forgiveness.  You see, I think the two really go hand in hand. Without love, there's no reason for forgiveness. And true forgiveness, is born out of love. For weeks in our Sunday school class we've been talking to the girls about Jesus as the great high priest who intercedes for us. We've talked about the job of the high priest in offering sacrifices for the sins of the people and we've talked about how Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sin through his death on the cross.

I keep going back time and time again to that picture of Jesus on the cross. I keep thinking about Him hanging up there after being beaten and mocked, after being betrayed by those closest to Him, after praying in the garden for God to let the cup pass from Him. And what I keep seeing is the only example of love and forgiveness that I ever really need. What I see is Jesus, the very Word of God, come to earth in the form of a man to take the punishment for my sins and your sins. Not because he had to, but because he chose to. In my mind I see every picture of the crucifixion I've ever seen, I think of the most gruesome and heart wrenching pictures or performances I've ever seen and I know, oh how I know, that doesn't even touch the surface of the pain and hurt he felt that day. I know there's no possible way my small human mind can ever fully comprehend what was done for me on the cross.  And in my mind I hear Him say "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

And in that moment, my head falls in shame because I know that I have disgraced the sacrifice on the cross so many times. As a believer in Christ, I tell the world that I know who God is and that I strive to live more and more like Him each and every day. I tell them that I know the love of Christ and the sacrifice that was given for me. But every single moment that I choose selfishness and pride over forgiveness and love, I put myself above God. I put myself in a position where I say that I know better than God does and that I'm more worthy of love and forgiveness than anyone else.

Life is not easy and as I've been reminded lately, sometimes the people that need our love and forgiveness are those closest to us. Unfortunately we live in a fallen world with sinful people. No matter how hard we try, we are always going to make mistakes and we are always going to hurt people around us. But in everything I do, I have to go back to Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. If he can give love and forgiveness to a world full of sinners in that moment, I can give forgiveness and love to those around me. Last time I checked, no one's tried to crucify me today.

As The Church, God calls us to be different. He calls us to be in the word but not of the world. He calls us to take a stand on biblical truth without wavering. I think that for a very long time, The Church in America has sat back and allowed the culture to dictate the church instead of the church dictating the culture. We’ve decided that not offending anyone around us was more important than standing on the truth of God's word and because of that, the church, our country, our families, our schools, etc. are in the shape they are in today. I can't think of very many people that would argue with me when I say it's time for The Church to stand up and be the church. While many may agree, very few will stand and make changes. And while I think the church so desperately needs to get their head out of the sand and stand up on God's truth to face the battle raging, these last few days I've gone back to one thing- WE MUST ACT IN LOVE. 

1 Corinthians 13:1 says- If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. I don't think I want to know how many times I've been a noisy gong because I've chosen to act without love.  The truth is, the cross tells us everything we need to know about giving forgiveness and love to those around us. God's word tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. In the very midst of a messy sinful world, God reached down and sent His son to die for sinners, of which I am one of the worst. And why did he do it? Because he loved me. And he loved you. And he loved every single person that would ever walk this earth and have breath in their lungs, because he created us and he wants us to be with Him. He didn't have to do it you know. He could have chosen to allow us to take our own punishment for the sins we would commit. He could have allowed us to face eternal separation from Him. That's what we deserved. But somewhere along the way, he decided that he would take the punishment for us. He decided that forgiveness and love were worth his death on the cross. They were worth every single bit of pain and suffering he would go through. Aren't you glad that God didn't change his mind about offering forgiveness. Aren't you glad that he didn't pick and choose who he would offer the free gift of grace? Aren't you glad he isn't anything like you and me? 

God is so gracious in the love that he lavishes on us when we really don't deserve it. Yet we are so very picky in offering that same love and forgiveness that we claim lives inside us. I know that there are a lot of people walking around with deep deep hurts, hurts that remain so tender today they can't be spoken, hurts that seem like they'll never heal. I know that some of those hurts  have come from people close to us, and while I know that, I know that God also commands us to forgive.  I know that there are relationships that may never be restored on this earthy and that's ok. What's not ok is to choose not to forgive those people. There can certainly be healthy boundaries in relationships but choosing not to forgive those people is in direct opposition to God's word.  No where in scripture do I find God saying, "you can forgive Him but you don't have to forgive her." That's certainly not biblical and that’s certainly not what Jesus did on the cross. Instead we have been commanded, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you. - Ephesians 4:31-32"

If we make start making The Cross the thing in which we base every single thought and action, we start to change. We start realizing that it's less about us and more about making the name of The Lord known. We start realizing that God so graciously gave us his love and forgiveness when we did not and we would not ever deserve it and if he could do that from the cross, we can do that in our lives. We start realizing, and I mean really realizing that in this world we will face trouble but in light of the hope of eternity, it means nothing. The cross gives us that freedom. The cross gives us the ability to face any and all persecution with the hope of glory, knowing that we are safe and secure in the Savior's hand and that nothing can snatch us from Him. The cross allows us to let people off the hook when they have wronged us and show them the love that God so graciously gave us.

There are a lot of times when I don't want to let people off the hook. When I want to hold on to the hurt that they've caused me, when I want to shake them, when I want to yell at them and tell them exactly what they've done wrong, when I want to tell them that I'm right and I know it, but that’s not why Jesus came and died. He didn't come and die so I could be right or so that I could always have my way. He came so that I could have life. He came so that the person to my right and to my left might also have life. He came to make a way that was different from the temporary sacrifices the high priest made each year for the people's sin. He came so that each of us could spend eternity with Him. To do that, he had to take the punishment for our sins through death on the cross, and offer us the free gift of grace and forgiveness. And to do that, there had to be a reason- that reason was love.

When I choose to act out of selfish ambition or gain, I miss out on the opportunity to show the life changing power of God's love and forgiveness to those around me. I miss out on an opportunity to be different from the rest of the world.

The way I react to people who are mean to me, rude for no reason, or that I just don't like says more about my pursuit of the Gospel and God's love  than it ever says about those who have wronged me. The truth is, everyone expects me to react poorly, to react in anger and to withhold love when wronged. What a beautiful gift God gives us in those moments. He gives us the opportunity to show love and forgiveness to a world that so desperately needs it. He gives us the opportunity to make his name known and to give an account for the hope that is found in us. If we all started living life that way, I can only imagine what this world would be like.

Today God is calling some of us to forgiveness. He's calling us to let people off the hook and to show the light and love that is within us. He's calling us to step out of our selfishness and to realize that it's less about us and more about Him. I don’t know about you, but I want to love like Jesus loved. I want to be the change that people need to see in the world and when they look at my life, I want the to know that the love and forgiveness that God so graciously gave me through his death on the cross actually means something to me. I want to throw a kink in the way they see Christians and in the way they see my Savior. I want them to know that NO MATTER WHAT, I forgive them and that I love them. Not out of my own power or strength but because of the one who lives in me. Because there is one that is greater and there is one that gives the ability to live free from the bondage of sin, death, anger, and shame.  There is one that allows me to live that love and the reason is that he first gave that love to me. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to and because he loved me that much.