Reflection*:
Often my own sense of being forgiven, or not, depends upon my religious observance. Am I praying and doing devotionals regularly? Am I successfully resisting temptation? In other words, it depends on my works, not on God’s grace. Thankfully, the good news of Jesus is far better than that.
On the cross Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ This prayer is connected to Jesus’ atoning death.
Did God the Father answer Jesus’ prayer to ‘forgive them’? I believe he did. And who are the ‘them’? Those responsible for crucifying Jesus — the soldiers and religious leaders. And by extension, those whose sins caused Jesus to go to the cross — you and me.
I believe that Jesus’ prayer ‘Father forgive them’, includes you and me.
Do you believe Jesus’ prayer includes you?
As they were crucifying Jesus, were the soldiers and religious leaders remorseful and repentant? No. That means their forgiveness was not conditional upon their repentance. God’s grace goes before human repentance — theologians call this prevenient grace — to lead us to repentance.
To be clear: forgiveness is not salvation. I will explain this further in the next devotional.
What is clear is this: God’s heart toward the undeserving overflows with forgiveness.
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for praying for those who were crucifying you, asking the Father to forgive them, even though they were not repentant or deserving. By extension, I think you were also praying for me. Thank you that your forgiving grace is not dependent upon my repentance or performance, but your grace does lead me to repentance so that I might live a life pleasing to you.
*BSA’s Daily Bible devotions are written by Christians who agree and are united on the centrality of the Bible, our understanding of who the Triune God is, and in affirming together the great creeds of the church. We know that not everyone agrees on every point of interpretation, and some discussions have been going on amongst Christians for many, many years. So like always, we hope you take this Daily Bible series, consider carefully God’s word as you hear Adam’s reflections on how he reads these passages concerning spiritual resilience.