Unshackled Moments ~ November 23 ~ They Knew Not?

We find easy at times to excuse or sin, even as we hate it. We hurt others because of our reactions to the pain we are in. We mess up because of our weakness. We cause pain because of our failure to understand any other way to act and live in that moment. We long for forgiveness. If they could only understand the why I was that way, as if we ourselves actually understood it, they would forgive me. But then when we look at the wreckage others have left in our lives, we fail to remember that they are as broken, weak and ignorant as we are, They simply reacted to their own pain, their own weaknesses and their own inability to see how to live any other way. That is why Jesus could pray, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

It's not that the Pharisees didn't know that they were setting up Christ to be killed. The Roman soldiers knew good and well that they were in the act of crucifying Jesus. And everyone standing there knew that they were either allowing it to happen or screaming for it, demanding it. They knew. But they didn't know. The had no power within themselves to override the pain, hurt, fear and confusion in their own life to do things and to see things any other way. They had no power over the effects of the curse on their humanness. Neither did we. Neither did the ones who hurt us.

Only God can provide freedom from and power over the curse of sin in our lives. That's why we need His forgiveness. And it's why we need to extend that same forgiveness to others. To pray with Jesus for the Father to forgive their ignorance, because even when it seems they knew and and understood, they didn't. When we forgive, we remove the barrier in our own heart for God's love to enter and repair the damage done  by ourselves and others in our life. When we refuse to forgive we cut ourselves off. Forgiveness is a free gift card that must be shared to be enjoyed.

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