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Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 NCV
When life doesn’t turn out the way we’d like it too our first inclination is to put the blame on someone else. We get stopped for speeding and blame our boss for being so unbending about getting to work on time, or blame the kids for taking so long getting ready. We fight all the way to church and blame the pastor for not having a good sermon rather than considering the fact that our anger kept us from hearing the Spirit’s soft, gentle voice. We put on extra pounds and rather than exercise and make wiser choices we blame the fast-food place for not serving ‘healthy fried foods’ (whatever that means). We spill our hot coffee as we leave the drive through and blame the coffee shop for having hot coffee!
I still find it humorous to see some of the warning labels on the products we buy. “Warning: Items taken out of the oven may be hot and cause burns.” Really? Perhaps the best one lately is the commercial with a computer generated pickup snowboarding down a mountain side with the disclaimer warning us that “We shouldn’t try this at home because pickups can’t snowboard.” Again. Seriously?
We spend millions of dollars a year trying to protect ourselves from ourselves because we’ve never really learned to accept responsibility for our actions. It started in the garden of Eden. Adam blamed Eve who blamed the snake (Satan) and we’ve been blaming ever since.
But the ultimate ‘blame-game’ we play started in the streets ofJerusalemabout 2000 years ago when we sent an innocent man to the cross. Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die, not because of the Romans, not because of the Jews. He was condemned to die by a group of angry people who needed someone to blame for their struggles. Someone to blame for the oppression of the political system they were under. Someone to blame for the burden religion had placed on them. Someone to blame for the physical pain and the relational wounds they suffered.
So who did they blame? A man who’d spent his entire life serving others for no profit of his own. A King who chose to leave the splendor of his throne to live in the ghettos and wilderness of Palestine. A ruler who gave up his authority to be governed by the selfish, greedy subjects of his own kingdom. A Savior who came to show life to the very people who would put him to death.
It’s no wonder that this man prayed “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” They didn’t! To this day there are people who continue to blame the one who promised us tribulation and that he’d be with us throughout the pain. We continue to blame the victim.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. I humbly bow before you today in praise and thanksgiving for giving your life so I could live. Forgive us for the times we blame you when we need to take responsibility for our own rebellion. Thank you for the grace you give us to move on. Help me extend that same forgiveness to others who still ‘don’t know what they are doing’. Amen.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
In New Testament Palestine the Ox was the primary piece of equipment for the farmer. Attached to various loads by a yoke the ox would carry the burden of the farmer all day long.
When a young ox was in training it would be teamed up with an experienced ox with a double yoke. The straps on the experienced ox were bound tightly to the animal, while the straps for the younger ox were loose. In this way the bulk of the burden for the load was placed on the more experienced ox.
Jesus uses the picture of a yoke and oxen to teach us a lesson about his expectations of us and our assurance from him that he will walk beside us along the way.
There are times in our lives when we, either vocally or inside ourselves, voice the statement, “This is too much for me to bear. I can’t do this anymore.” Each of us carries a multitude of different burdens. Some of those burdens are ‘self-inflicted’ such as addictive behaviors, the affair we can’t leave, the pornography we can’t stay away from, the anger we can’t let go of, the person we refuse to forgive.
Other burdens we bear have been placed on us from other sources. The wounds of an abusive spouse or parent; the feelings of abandonment we harbor, even as an adult, because of parents who left us or were too busy with their career to tend to their families; the rules and regulations of religious dogma; the limitations due to health or age issues.
Whatever your burden is, whether self-inflicted or otherwise, Jesus’ promise is the same. He walks beside you. You may feel your burden is too great, but he is bearing the brunt of the load and feeling the majority of the pain.
As he walks the path with you remember that he is gentle, not demanding; understanding, not judgmental; grace-full, not critical. Jesus has no desire to make our lives burdensome and harsh. Because of his passionate love for us, Jesus comes alongside us to help us carry the burdens that weigh us down on the journey we call life.
What burden are you bearing today? Worry? Fear? Guilt? Shame? Disappointment? Physical burdens? Jesus wants to come alongside you to help ease your burden as you learn to walk with him and love him. He doesn’t promise to take the burden away, but he will never let you bear it alone. It’s good to have a friend like him to help along the way.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I have many friends and family that love me and encourage me. But none of them understand the weight of this burden I bear. Until now I’ve tried to carry it myself. I ask that you would walk beside me and help ease the load I carry. Amen.
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11
Years ago now the news broke in my area of a young person who died tragically in a house fire. What made the death even more of a tragedy is that when he heard the smoke detectors in the middle of the night, he got scared and hid under his bed. When his parents frantically checked his room they didn’t see him and thought him to be outside. He was too scared to answer their calls.
By the time they realized he hadn’t made it outside it was too late. The young man perished from smoke inhalation. The fire was put out quickly. The rest of the family, while devastated at the loss of a loved one, was able to rebuild and go on with life. But the wound of that night haunted them for years. “He was so close to safety,” his dad remarked, “yet his fear was so much greater than his understanding of the situation it twisted his thinking with deadly consequences.”
When we are afraid, for whatever reason, we naturally look for a safe place to regroup. We seek a refuge that will protect us from further pain or harm, a place where we can feel safe and comforted. A place of refuge that will allow us to reach the full potential of our being.
The strength of our refuge determines the amount of peace, safety and healing we take with us on the journey. Some take refuge from emotional pain in new relationships. But relationships are fickle at best and can’t offer the lasting peace we crave. People who aren’t comfortable with the relationship they have with themselves find it difficult, if not impossible, to find true fulfillment in relationship with someone else.
Others seek refuge in addictive behaviors, anger, religious experience, careers, social action and a variety of other things bent on helping them suppress the fear and anxiety in their lives and replace it with comfort and a sense of well-being.
Those who learn how to take refuge in our Heavenly Father find peace in the midst of tragedy; encouragement in the face of disappointment; healing when anger raises its ugly head. Why? Because our human intellect tells us a refuge is protection from the outside, but the eternal, unshakeable refuge we have in God through Jesus Christ is an internal refuge that guards what external refuges can never protect, our souls.
Our bodies will fail us. Old age and/or death are 100% likely for each of us. Relationships will fail. Careers will end. Dreams will slip away in the night. But there is nothing in the seen or the unseen world that will ever break through the refuge of our souls that Jesus Christ offers us.
PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for the protection that you offer us through Jesus Christ. I thank you that we can find complete inner peace and safety when we take refuge in you. I confess I too often seek refuge from things that don’t last. Empower me to learn how to rest in the refuge you can give so in the midst of my adversity I can find rest. Amen.
But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. Psalm 5:7
When I was young I delivered papers in my home town. Saturday was collection day so my parents would drop me off on the furthest end of my route and I’d wander door to door collecting from each of my customers.
I remember one Saturday in particular. I’d lost track of time and was still quite far from finishing my duties when the town siren went off. It was warm, cloudy and we’d had some pretty severe storms recently. I panicked. I was sure that the siren sounded to warn of an approaching tornado and I was completely at the mercy of the oncoming storm.
I hurried quickly to the next customer and knocked on the door. No one home. My anxiety shot through the roof! What would I do?
I went to the next door neighbor, even though they were not a customer. Trying to be as brave as I could, I asked the person answering the door if there was going to be a tornado. I felt a bit sheepish when I found out the siren I heard was the siren that blew (in those days) every day at noon!
I think of that story when I read Psalm 5:7. What a privilege we have that we can enter God’s house! We are invited in, not as guests, but as his child. We can partake in all of the safety, warmth, protection and comfort his home can provide. Better yet, this is no modest three bedroom bungalow. This is the home of a king, this is a palace.
The second statement David makes is even more revealing of the intimate access we have to our Father. We are allowed into his holy temple. When David wrote these words the temple we think of was yet to be built. The ‘temple’ he was referring to was the inner room of the tabernacle, the holiest of holy places where God himself dwelt.
What a marvelous reminder of God’s grace. We are not worthy to enter his home, but he welcomes us in as his child. Not only are we welcomed in as his child, we are given access to the most intimate parts of the home…the temple where God dwells.
When the storms of life threaten to attack. When you seem to be far from the safe confines of family or friends. When it seems the enemy is lurking at every corner. Remember that your Heavenly Father welcomes you as a child into the safety of his presence.
Today ‘home’ for some isn’t a pleasant place. If that’s the case with you, think of all the things home means to you in the best of circumstances. This is the home your Father in Heaven welcomes you into is a home of peace in the midst of the storm, warmth in the cold winter night, love in the midst of an angry world.
PRAYER: Father Thank you for the promise that I have a home with you. Thank you for the grace you offer me to welcome me as a child even though I don’t deserve it. When fear (real or imagined) attacks me, help me remember I have a safe place with you. Amen.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Colossians 2:9
Most people don’t reject Jesus, they reject religion. After all, how do you spurn a man who heals the lame, stands up for women and outcasts, gives mothers back their dead children, and refuses to condemn the guilty?
Ask the man who sat by a pool for 38 years before someone named Jesus came along and finally showed they cared. As he picked up his bed and returned home do you think he had a bad thing to say about Jesus?
As the woman who’d been suffering from hemorrhaging for 12 years how she felt about Jesus. By touching him she made him ceremonially unclean. By ‘being found out’ she not only interrupted the ministry of a very important teacher, for a brief moment all attention was turned on her. Think she felt defamed or ridiculed as she felt her body suddenly stop bleeding?
Ask the woman walking home with a son who, moments ago, was being carried to his grave along with all her hopes for grandchildren. Do you think she doubted the power of God to bring life to the dead?
Ask the woman who closed her eyes expecting rocks to fly at any moment. After he raised her to her feet and told her she was no longer condemned. Do you think she went away thinking God could never forgive her past mistakes?
I could go on. The young mom who suddenly could feed her hungry children because the great teacher miraculously produced enough food for over 5,000 people from some kids sack lunch. Or the parents of the man who was blind from birth and now could see. The man who brought home his son, now completely healed from demonic powered seizures.
Fact of the matter is a study of Jesus Christ reveals a man who did absolutely nothing that others could look down upon, except maybe those intent on legalistic rules and regulations. If you want an example of who God is, look to Jesus. If you want an example of what a loving compassionate father, look to Jesus. If you want to see what grace looks like, look to Jesus.
I can’t explain what it means that Jesus was completely God and completely man. 100% human and 100% deity. I can’t explain it. I can’t explain it, but I like it because this example of love, forgiveness and mercy give me strength to go on.
With Jesus the voices of your past become silent; the accusations of the present fall away; the reminders of your weakness become foundations for your strength.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. Once again I come in humble praise for all you showed in your life here on earth. I thank you for coming to live among us so we could catch a glimpse of the Father. Empower me now with your Spirit to show those around me your grace. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 