Has someone tried to interfere with a promotion or advancement in your company that you deserved? Has someone spread unkind rumors about you? Have you been wronged by someone in a business deal? What kind of person are you when these kinds of things happen to you?
• Vindictive
• Unkind
• Slanderous
• Insulting
• Abusive
• Cruel
• Malicious
All of these describe the spirit of the men and women inMark 14 and 15. These two chapters depict a story of hateful rage toward one man. His name? Jesus. What did he do to deserve a beating? Nothing! What did he do to deserve cruel and inhumane treatment? Nothing! What did he do to deserve spit in his face, a crown of thorns on his head, nails driven into his body and the lashes of jagged pieces of metal or bone at the end of a whip on his back? Nothing! What did he do to deserve death? Nothing!
It is God's way!
How would any of us have responded? Maybe we would have responded somewhat like the little girl in the following story: A little girl was being punished by eating alone in the corner of the dining room. The family paid no attention to her until they heard her pray: "I thank Thee, Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." While the story of the little girl's prayer is cute, it reminds us of a deeper truth: many times, we cannot see past our enemies.
When someone does us wrong, we have the tendency to strike back and try to get revenge and make them pay. But let's remember Jesus' response to his cruel and vindictive enemies: "Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)
You see, forgiveness is often not in our human way of dealing with wrongs; but thankfully, it is God's way. The Bible tells us, "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong." (1 John 1:9 NLT) Jesus is the designer of forgiveness and he gives us — his "enemies" — one special thing to think about before he gives up his spirit and dies. Forgiven!
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.
So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. (Romans 5:6-11)
Me? Forgiven? Yes! Forgiven!
Remember, Be God Controlled!
Brian