Forgiveness

“To err is human, to forgive is divine,” from a poem by English poet Alexander Pope.

To forgive is to release. It’s freedom.

Human beings sin.

It’s a fallen human being condition.

We sin. We have. And we will continue to do so.

To truly forgive–to release others from the hurt and pain they have caused by their sin, their infraction–is truly divine.

Forgiveness is external.

When truly experienced, forgiveness is a sweet thing, a beautiful thing.

It’s liberating.

Let’s model forgiveness.

Resurrection Power

“¹⁸ I pray also that you will have greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people. ¹⁹ And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength ²⁰ God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world.” -Ephesians 1:18-20 NCV

Good Friday 2021

“But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8 NRSV

Palm Sunday 2021: Behold Your King!

Next Sunday is Easter–the celebration of the glorious and triumphant resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Christ.

However, the Sunday before Easter, which we know as Palm Sunday, we find Jesus of Nazareth riding on a donkey’s colt, into Jerusalem (John 12:12-15).

In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), after his triumphal entry, Jesus enters the temple and begins to cleanse it. By the time of Jesus, the temple, the center of worship to the one true and living God, was being misused (Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 19).

This symbolic cleansing of the temple, the designated place of worship, points to what God was already doing in and through Jesus, the son of King David.

You see, the king who came riding on a donkey’s colt, not a stallion or a warhorse, came to restore God’s rule (Luke 4:42-44).

The message of Palm Sunday is establishing the rule of God’s rule in our hearts and lives.