Tidbits for Thought

ELEVEN WORDS

Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them for they know not

what they are doing.”

Eleven simple words strung together as a prayer screamed into

the darkness on an ugly Friday over two thousand years ago. The

power, compassion and mercy conveyed by those eleven words

echo forever in the hearts and minds of millions of Christians. It

is almost incomprehensible that an act as brutal and ugly as

crucifixion could result in a heart-felt prayer for forgiveness,

culminating in a gift that is almost impossible to describe…….

eternal salvation for believing hearts and souls through the love

and grace of a merciful God.

With that eleven- word prayer, Jesus is calling us to Him as

people forgiven of even the most horrific sins and sets the

standard of forgiveness for His followers to emulate.

With His prayer, we are forever given the essence of what our

Father desires of us……forgiveness on a plane that sometimes

seem impossible for us as mere mortals to achieve, and yet that

forgiveness is the cornerstone of the highest and purest form of

Christianity that forgives the unforgiveable, with no reservations

or conditions.

What this means to you and me is very simply stated by Jesus,

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father

will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their

trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

(Matthew 6:14-15) This takes forgiveness out of the realm of an

option and places it squarely into the position of an act that is

mandatory for all Christians.

In the real world there are values that each of us hold dear to our

hearts and when those values are violated, forgiveness seems to

be impossible. We are all individuals and, as such, each have

different things that stay with us, sometimes buried beneath the

minutia of our lives. Simply put, what I find abhorrent and crying

out for forgiveness you might find perfectly acceptable therefore

feel that no forgiveness is necessary. For me, personally, the

withholding of food and resources from the needy and hungry is,

not only unnecessary, but unforgiveable. The senseless,

inhumane and brutal persecution of our undocumented neighbors

simply because of lies, misinformation, conspiracy and bigotry

are past unforgiveable. The highly visible corruption,

malfeasance and degradation of truth at the national level is

something that is impossible for me to forgive without spiritual

assistance. (Please understand that those are my very personal

views that I am very passionate about and are used only as real-

world examples of God-given choice.)

When confronted with these seemingly unforgiveable things, we

are at the mercy of our humanness and left with but one

option…. prayer and more prayer until we feel the willingness to

let the working of the Spirit of God open our hearts and let

forgiveness pour out, no matter how unfair it seems.

Think about it!      ~ Aron Smith