"Father, forgive them"

       The first of the last seven statements of Jesus on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34)
       The cross is the ultimate demonstration of forgiveness.  The perfect Son of God would take on our sins, die in our place, secure our forgiveness, and in exchange give us His righteousness.  That is forgiveness.  How about us?
        I recently read these words from Beth Moore: "Though your heart may ache from what you lost, let winter go, and though the branch is still tender to the touch, let blooms come."  And I couldn't help but think--when we forgive, it's as if we say goodbye to winter and hello to spring.  It's a release of what's past and an embracing of what's ahead...and in the process, we are the ones who are freed.  Let me briefly explain--

        Thinking back to the beautiful but cooooold snow from a little over a month ago.  And recalling Bingley's determination to carry this stick most of the length of the greenway, despite the fact that he kept running into the bridge and smacking into trees.  That silly stick prevented him from enjoying one of the rare occasions when he could be off his leash, and thus could have been happily racing and leaping through the snowy woods--one of his favorite activities.
        But that big old stick hindered him at every turn.  No matter how I hollered at him to "DROP IT!" he would not.  Bingley was absolutely determined to keep on hauling that stick...and all the while missing out of the fun he could have been having.
        And here's what I'm thinking: how often does our refusal to forgive others and our insistence on clinging to our bitterness hinder and hurt us in innumerable and sometimes devastating ways?  As has often been said, "Bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
        A bitter and unforgiving spirit damages our health, destroys our hope, diminishes our joy, and dims our testimony.  No wonder God, in His infinite love for us, commands us over and over again in His Word to "DROP IT!" 
        Just a couple of examples: "Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." (Matt.18:21-22)  "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Eph.4:32)  "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." (Col.3:12-13)
         Yet are we refusing to obey?  Are we insisting on hauling that stick of bitterness and unforgiveness everywhere we go and thus damaging ourselves and others?  If that is the case for you, think of all the joy, all the freedom, all the burden-lifting relief you are forfeiting by hanging on to that big ugly stick?
         Let's stop clinging on to the tired old relic of winter and instead embrace the wonder of approaching spring by choosing to forgive.  And if necessary, making that choice a hundred times a day.  Let the sunshine in, by trusting the Son and asking Him to enable you to forgive by Him, through Him, and for Him.
           And when you're having trouble forgiving, simply turn your gaze to the cross.  And remember.  If the Perfect Savior could forgive us of so infinitely much, surely we can forgive others of the comparatively minuscule.
          Forget winter--choose to forgive--and let the springtime blooms of joy and hope fill your life.  Drop the stick--get rid of bitterness--and discover that you are the one who is freed.
         To God be the glory.