Imagine my heart smiling in agreement when our senior pastor said from the pulpit this past Sunday morning, “Our words matter.” As a writer, called to write for Him, I could not have agreed more. His words brought to my mind, Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21a ESV).

Our pastor’s sermon was the first in a series about the seven last words of Christ on the cross. This week it focused on Father, forgive them. Pastor Justin gave us two observations, two lessons, and two questions to ponder.

OBSERVATIONS

The first thing Jesus did was pray to the Father, asking Him to forgive the people who beat Him beyond recognition, nailed Him to a cross, spit at him, then pierced His side. They even gave him a vinegar-soaked sponge via a hyssop branch when He said He was thirsty.

That He said he forgave them for they knew not what they were doing reminds us that even sins of ignorance still require our repentance and God’s forgiveness. I can’t even imagine how many sins I must have committed in my lifetime without knowing they were sins. You know, all those little things. Sin is sin and there are no measurements.

No Fishing Allowed @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #forgiveness Share on X

LESSONS

The first lesson we were told is that no one is beyond the reach of prayer. How profound this is when we see the first thing Jesus did was to pray to the Father on behalf of His persecutors. At this point, Pastor Justin reminded us to never, ever give up on our children. Just keep on praying. God hears every prayer you have prayed and remember, He’s collecting our tears in a bottle. He sees our broken hearts. He loves us and He loves our children. It isn’t easy but turn them over to Him. His plans and His timing in their lives is always superior to ours.

Justin pointed to the second lesson, no one is beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness. If God can forgive those who killed Jesus, He can surely forgive us, no matter what we’ve done. A huge promise from God’s Word. Just lay that heavy load at the foot of the cross. Bring all that baggage and just lay it down. Confess your sin. Thank God for sending Jesus to save us. Jesus went to that cross for you!

QUESTIONS

This is a very big one for many people. If God forgives you, can you forgive yourself? My sister had a friend who didn’t really understand this. She constantly asked questions and was stunned when Sissy told her that even murderers will be in Heaven if they truly repent of that sin. The friend even went so far as to say she didn’t want them there with her. I think it’s a very good thing that mankind doesn’t get to make those decisions.

Question number two was, can you forgive those who have hurt you?

Ouch! This one comes close to home, doesn’t it? It would be so easy to carry around that hurt, to try to hurt that person or those persons in return. But in reality, the only one hurt by our inability to forgive is us. If God can forgive us our sins, who are we not to forgive others? That seems a bit like trying to play God. I know I don’t want that job. Do you?

A GREAT QUOTE

Here is a quote by Corrie Ten Boom that Pastor Justin shared with us. I’d never heard it and I’ve been on this earth for a long, long time. I hope you will think about this when you begin to think about and question if God has forgiven you for your sin.

“God takes our sins—the past, present, and future—and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says, ‘No Fishing Allowed.’”

 Blessings, y’all!

If you need forgiveness, it is never too late to come to the cross. His grace is sufficient!!!