Holy Week: Enabled to Forgive

"I am broken,

I am wounded,

I am wretched and ashamed.

And a harlot,

Is like a chain around my neck; 

It's my name."

We were loved. We were cherished. We were given life. And we rejected its supernatural Giver.

I sold myself to the world. Even while calling myself a Christian, I surrendered the most sacred parts of my spiritual life to another lover. I pursued fulfillment in the eyes of people, even though I innately knew that true fulfillment could only come from Him. I took the deepest longings of my heart, and set them on things of the world. In Him, I was loved... but somehow, that was not enough. I threw it away; I became a harlot.

Growing up in the church, we are so used to the message of forgiveness, and the fact that we have been forgiven. I think many of us have subconsciously come to think that we deserved it. But let's make something perfectly clear: all we deserve is death. We have sold ourselves to other lovers; we have betrayed the one who breathed life into our lungs. Even on this side of the cross, we continue to reject the offer of a victorious lifestyle in Him, because we are still clinging hopelessly to our idols.

The cross was ours. We know the physical torture it brought, but it is so easy to skim over the fact that we deserved that death. We betrayed Him. It was our sin that caused Him to bleed. It was our unfaithfulness that drove the nails into His wrists. It was our idolatry that put Him on the cross.

But He forgave you.  He forgave me; He offers to take us back. He offers new life to all who ask. More than that, He offers a chance to forgive those who have wronged us. Whether it's an unkind word, or death itself, we have the enabling power to cry out with Him:  "Father forgive them; they know not what they do."

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Worship Song: 

"The Harlot (Spontaneous)",
by Misty Edwards