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Standing before a crowd of people that hate you. Receiving strike after
strike to
your head, neck, back and face as people whip you, throw stones, and clenched
fists,
swinging violently. They hate you and want you dead! In their opinion you
are guilty.
But guilty of what? You are laid upon a wooden beam as metal spikes are
driven through
your flesh to hold you in place. Three times your skin is pierced. Three
times a new
wound opens allowing your life blood to fall to the ground. Nearly dead you
hang half
naked, bloody, beaten, and weak, and as you are await your final breath; you
speak,
"Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."
You, a being with the power to call all of heaven's angels, with swords
of flame
capable of rescuing you. You, a being with the power to call fire to rain
down upon your
adversaries, the power to fly down from the cross without injury -- and yet
you remain
upon the very representation of shame. While you die, you ask your Father to
forgive.
You ask Him to do what you have already done, forgiven them.
Then you breathe your last blood stained breath and you die!
Loving and forgiving an enemy -- wow! what a concept. But how? How do we
forgive
and love as Jesus did?
Jesus' ultimate sacrifice -- the giving of His life and the forgiveness of
those who would have Him die; loving His enemies. This is the image we are to follow.
We who are human, who are weak, prideful and fearful, we are to forgive as Jesus did,
to love as Jesus did. We who cannot forgive the woman in the grocery store for hitting
our heel with her cart. We who cannot forgive someone for calling us stupid or ugly.
How can we forgive on such a huge magnitude, like Jesus, when we cannot even forgive the minor and trivial things in life?
To understand what we are to do, we need to see more clearly what Jesus did
and why.
Let's look at the pain He endured. The price He paid and why He was willing and able to do this.
I know that there are many people who read or hear the torment Jesus went
through and
yet you never really picture it to the point of feeling His pain. I urge you
now to vividly
picture the price Christ paid.
See His body hanging, as the warm life blood drips from his hands and
feet.
Imagine the pain he endured, the ridicule, the pain he took upon himself for
you! But He did not do this for you alone. He did it for everyone, including those very people who spat upon Him, drew lots for His clothing, beat Him, placed a crown of thorns upon His head and mocked Him as he hung on the cross. They challenged His Godly power!
Mark 15:31-32: "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the
King of
Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!"
Luke 23:39 "And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse
at Him,
saying, "Are you the Christ? Save Yourself and us!")
By our standards, Jesus did the unthinkable. He willingly died! We who
are taught
to fight back, to kill or be killed, to take rather than give, to do for
ourselves not for
others, to be stronger because only the strong survive, to hit first before
someone hits us
and to gather and amass as much material wealth as we can. It is by that
wealth that our
worth will be measured.
How are we supposed to follow Jesus' example of love and forgiveness when
we
would rather make excuses? "It was easy for Christ, He was God! There is no
way I could
do that." But nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only can we
forgive as Christ
forgave but we can do greater things than Christ (John 14:12) and through Him
we can do
all things!! (Philippians 4:13). You must stop thinking of Christ solely as
God. He was
human as well. He was God who came in physical form in order to better understand us.
He felt
what we feel. Jesus himself felt the same emotions, thoughts, questions,
etc. that we feel.
He cried when Lazarus died even though He knew the power He possessed to
resurrect
His friend. Why mourn the death of someone you know is not really dead or
that you
know will not be dead for long? Jesus was about to raise him from the dead
and He wept
(John 11:35). Jesus Himself, did not want to die. He asked the Father to
allow the cup to
pass from Him but God's will be done. So Jesus, knowing that in order to
save the world,
He must make that unimaginable sacrifice -- death.
I still don't think you fully grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did. He
died for us.
For all of us, He took on our sins and the penalty of those sins; separation
from the Father,
separation from love. That is death! At that one time in all of creation,
God the trinity
became a duo!! God became something less, yet more, through the death of
Christ.
God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) unable to experience sin, had to literally
divide Himself
so that Jesus could experience the weight of the world -- alone! Imagine you
ripping off
your own arm to save a stranger or better yet as a Father (of Mother) tearing
your child's
arm off to save someone who does not know you or hates you!!
God split Himself into two rather than one. Jesus was alone! "My God, my
God, why
have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)
You ask, How can I do that? How can I forgive the person who is car
jacking me?
How can I forgive the person who is raping me? The person who is mugging me?
The
person who is bashing in my skull and calling me faggot? The person dressed
in a white
sheet, placing a noose over my head as he ignites the cross in the backdrop
in the name of
Christ? The person who would no sooner shoot me than say hello? How do I
forgive
them? You do it just as Christ did!
Jesus did everything he did throughout His life, every miracle, every
sermon, every
deed, He did to display to and to demonstrate love. The Love of God the
Father in
human action! It is through that, that we too can do as He did. Through
Love He
sacrificed His life, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down
his life for his
friends." (John 15:13). Jesus loves us, His friends. I hear some of you
saying, "Yeah, I'd
die for my friends. I love my friends." But I ask you, who were Jesus'
friends? Did Jesus
just die for the disciples? Just die for His mother, father, brother,
Lazarus, Mary?
Who did He die for?
Did he die for the thief that mocked Him on the cross? For the soldiers
who
hammered the nails into His flesh? For the soldiers who spat and whipped and
struck Him
in the head? Yes, he died for all of them and all of us! For every single
man,
woman, and child ever born past, present, and future! Jesus died for His
friends!
Are you starting to see what you need to do in order to have that kind of
forgiveness, that kind of Godly power and influence in the world? The
secret, the key is
Love. You must learn to love. To love not just those you know but those you
don't
know as well. Those you like and those you don't like as well. "Love your
enemies and
pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44) "For if you love those
who love you,
what reward have you? Do not even the tax gatherers do the same?" (Matthew
5:46)
We are urged to do more, to go beyond our comfortable little sanctuaries.
We
must be self sacrificing. I'm not saying we should all seek to die but I am
saying that we
should not be afraid to die. After all what is there to fear when Heaven is
your home?
And the sting of death is no longer a threat to you? However that fear is a
real and
terrible beast we must face! It is fear that prevents us from doing all that
we could do.
Fear blocks us from the gifts, blessings, and fulfillment God has planned for
us. Fear of
poverty, of pain, of illness and disease, of shame, of guilt, and of death!
Did you know that fear is pride? Many people never realize that fear is
related to
Pride, which is one of those things that could lead to our separation from
God.
Pride is exhalting yourself above the will of God. When God tells us to
do
something and we tell Him wait. Or we tell Him, "IF"- If you do this for me
first then I
can do that for You. When we tell Him, "Wait. Hold on a second, I have
other things to
do." We tell Him we can't because it's something we believe to be
impossible or
something that scares us. That is pride! How dare we presume to tell God
what we can
or cannot do; what we will or will not do!
That fear/pride is also a factor when we exhalt ourselves above others. How
can we
presume to be above any of our brothers and sisters? We are raised to pick
on and
ridicule; to put others down rather than pick them up. How often do we think
positive
thoughts or give praise and support of others? We give more criticisms than
compliments,
more complaints than praise, more negativity than positivity. It is easier
to say how fat
she is than how nice she is. Easier to say how ugly, how stingy, how stupid,
rather than
how gentle, kind, patient. We tear down rather than build up and it's all
because of our
pride. We feel threatened by anyone who looks different, thinks different,
feels different
and from those threatening feelings we get hostile and superiority
complexes -- all from
pride.
Yet deeper down is fear. We fear becoming fat, so we mock those who are.
We
fear becoming old, so we avoid those who are. We fear getting a disease so
we condemn
those who contract something. We are afraid of being poor so we judge those
who are
trapped in poverty. We fear death, so we become obsessed with anything that
will
prolong our lives. We seek material gain and wealth (which is temporary and
fleeting),
rather than spiritual and intellectual wealth (which is forever). We seek
physical beauty,
also temporary rather than spiritual and emotional beauty which is forever.
All because
we are afraid of being exposed as imperfect and flawed.
However, those willing to follow Christ and His example of Love (which is
patient, kind, confident, humble, sacrificing, giving, forgiving, truthful,
enduring of all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, and never fails. (1 Corinthians
13:4-8) We are free
to unleash God's holy power in their lives and the lives of others. So in
order to love and
Jesus did and forgive as Jesus forgave we must not allow pride to dictate to
us what we
can or cannot do! We cannot allow pride to convince us of what God cannot or
will not
do!
We must put it into practice daily however. When driving and someone
cuts us off
or does some other annoying or even dangerous automotive maneuver, rather than
blasting a string of profanity or flicking that finger or other similar
gesture what more
positive, more Christ like, more loving thing could we do? Pray for them.
Ask God to
help calm us and continue to protect us and them as well. Thank God for not
letting an
accident occur.
We must plant seeds of thankfulness in everything! Even when physical
death comes knocking, we need to thank God for the life we enjoyed with the
departed
one, thank Him for the time we had with them and the love we felt and were
able to give.
That is the love and power of Christ. We will mourn, but mourning does not
mean we can
not praise God!
So praise and thank rather than swear and curse. If something slips out
occasionally or even more often (smile) then take time to refocus in more
positive ways,
say a prayer for forgiveness and still throw out a prayer for the other
person, whom we
should strive to love as ourselves.
Literally, focus your
mind on love. Let words of love flow from your mouth. Let your actions be
selfless and
done in love. Regardless of who the person is, practice loving them as you
love yourself.
Imagine that you are looking at yourself in that person's shoes. How would
you respond
to you? That is you on the corner asking for spare coins. What will you do,
give, or say
to you? That is you holding up the line in the store counting your pennies
or writing a
check. What will you think, feel, say about you? That is you lost and
separated from the
love of God; that's why you are abusing your child, your wife, husband, etc.
What will
you think, feel, say about your lost life? Realize that the only enemy you
truly have is
Satan and yourself when you allow him to convince you of untruth and to lure
you away
from God. You are the one in control of your life. You decide who to
follow- God or
Satan? You decide what to say to others- kindness or hatred? You decide how
to live
your life- fearful or empowered? You decide who, how, and when-to love or
not to
love? How will you live? How will you treat that person as if He/she were
you?
Once you begin to practice these small but powerful steps, begin planting
in small
ways the seeds of Holiness, you will see a power you would never have
imagined. You
will begin to manifest the very power Christ has given you! It will be
through that power
that you will be able to love your neighbor, your friend, and your enemy.
After all love
encompasses and surrounds all just as the Sunlight shines upon saint and
sinner alike
(Matthew 5:45). Love -- Unconditionally and Eternally, just as your Father in
heaven loves
you.
So I ask another question. What will you now do? Will you seek to love
you
neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:19)? Will you love one another as Christ
has loved you
(John 13:34, 35) that the world will be able to look at you and know you are
a disciple of
Christ because or your love?
You have heard it said about nutrition, "You are what you eat." Well more
important
than actual food, is food for thought! "Be careful what you think; for your
life is shaped
by your thoughts." (Proverbs 23:7) If you think hate, then those seeds of
hatred will
grow. If you think guilt and pessimism and shame, then those seeds of misery
too will
grow. Yet, how wonderful it is to realize that if you think of love, of
Christ, of
forgiveness, and Godly power those seeds will grow and manifest into such
a glorious
beacon of light to the world that they will see your good works and glorify
your Father in
Heaven (Matthew 5:16). And you will love as Christ loves and you will live
with Christ
living within you!
Raymont Anderson is a teacher/artist and performer. Visit his website S.T. A.R.S. - Sticking Together Always Results in Success!
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Thomas Merton (Editor) Martin Luther King Jr.
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