Forgiving Love

One of the things that touches my heart deeply is that even while we were killing him on a cross, Jesus prayed forgiveness on us, because "we did not know what we were doing" Luke 23:34 (paraphrased).

So often, in much less nasty situations, I find myself angry and judgemental about the person causing my discomfort. I can be quick to assign blame. Forgiveness is much less readily available in the midst of the injury.

God said "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7. He was talking about how readily we chose physical appearance as a means of assigning worth, whereas he determines value by the beauty of heart. But I was thinking - it also speaks about judging behaviour.

We see the in-your-face behaviours and judge and react to them. He sees deeper, to what causes that behaviour - and gives grace, because his heart is pure. He wants us to be that way to - to do less reacting, and more grace giving. Especially since we, ourselves, cause problems for others.

There's another verse that says "Love covers a multitude of sins" 1 Peter 4:8, meaning that if we have pure, loving grace to offer, like Jesus did, we can forgive in the midst of turmoil, and defuse situations that would otherwise escalate.

We are not perfect like Jesus, but we do have access to his beautiful spirit to make us better than we are. And none of us are facing the horror of crucifixion that he did, so surely we can forgive the lesser "evils" done to us. Most things are trivial in comparison.

Incredible, beautiful, forgiving love. Nothing can compare with it. This is how healing love lives.

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