THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever had a hard time forgiving someone?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 23:32-34. 32Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Forgiving someone can be really hard, can’t it? It might be the hardest thing that God asks us to do. When we forgive someone we are saying that we don’t need them to pay us back for what they did. It doesn’t mean that what they did was OK. And it sure doesn’t mean that what they did didn’t hurt you. It means that we will take that hurt and that pain and not give it back to the person who hurt us.
The opposite of forgiveness is revenge. Revenge says that the person who hurt me now needs to be hurt by me. Punch me, I will punch you back. Make fun of me, I will make fun of you. Hurt my feelings, I will now hurt your feelings. That’s revenge.
On the cross, Jesus did something truly incredible – he forgave the people who crucified him. He asked God the Father to forgive them too. Instead of seeking revenge, he prayed for them. This is exactly what Jesus taught us to do for our enemies.
Luke 6:27-28. 27“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
When Jesus forgave these men that were there crucifying him and mocking him, he was showing us that he will also forgive us of all our sin too. You see, every sin is a sin against Jesus. Not just the crucifixion. Obviously beating Jesus and putting him on a cross was a sin against him. But so is every other sin. Why? Because Jesus is our creator. When we are cruel to another person, we are being cruel to that person’s maker, Jesus. When we hurt someone, we are hurting their creator, Jesus. Like if someone purposefully broke something that is yours, your favorite toy or trophy, or worse yet, if they destroyed something you made on purpose, how would you feel? That’s right, you would feel personally hurt and offended. In the same way, when we hurt each other, we are hurting Jesus too. We are his. He made us. He loves us the most out of all his creation. This is why every sin needs to be forgiven by Jesus.
And guess what, just like he did on the cross, Jesus forgives every sin. That’s why he died on the cross, so that every sin would be paid for by himself. When we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sin, he always says yes. In fact, Jesus forgives us even before we ask. Even all your future sins are already forgiven.
And now we can forgive others too, like Jesus. Those who have been forgiven will also forgive. Who do you need to forgive? How can knowing that you are forgiven help you to forgive others?
Because of Jesus we are forgiven of all our sins.
With Jesus we can forgive others.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Practice forgiveness as a family. Practice saying something like this: I hurt you when I ____, please forgive me. And, I forgive you for ____.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, you have forgiven me of all my sins, help me to forgive others now like Jesus did. Amen.
TLICfamily 