Forgive Me

After Jesus was crucified and was hanging on the cross, dying for the sins of the world (mine and yours), he said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."(Luke 23: 34 The NIV Study Bible).

Many of my own "forgive me" moments have come as a result of bitterness and anger that snowball to the point that make it difficult for me to forgive. They quietly build under the surface. Sometimes I'm aware they are there, and sometimes I'm oblivious to the fact that something dark and treacherous is hidden beneath the surface. Unaware...until I slip, trip, or fall headlong through the surface that has kept those feelings hidden. I then find myself up to my neck in bitterness and anger, struggling desperately to lay hold of forgiveness that seems just outside of my reach. Sometimes I don't even struggle. Sometimes I just allow the anger and unforgiveness to wash over me and I drown in it. Certain death.

Christ's dying on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins (every single one of them...and there have been many) serves as a life line. It draws me up out of the abyss I sometimes find myself in and offers me hope. Hope and a belief that I might live. A life line that shortens the distance between the One who offers it and the one who will receive it; gradually pulling them to solid ground and into the arms of the One who has labored for their life.

Father...Thank you for Your great compassion for all Your people. Thank you for a love that was willing to offer up the life of Your Ownly Begotten Son to serve as a life line to those of us who were drowning in our sin in order that we might live. Father, forgive me for those times when I have been aware of my sin and done nothing. Forgive me for those times when I have been unaware and fallen headlong into it and then risked drowning in it. Thank you for loving me enough that You never gave up on me. Thank you for pulling me in closer.
Forever grateful,
Elizabeth