Are You Praying For Those Who Put You On The Cross?
Luke 23:33-35 Amplified Bible (AMP)
33And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Latin: Calvary; Hebrew: Golgotha], there they crucified Him, and [along with] the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. 34And Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them.35Now the people stood by [calmly and leisurely] watching; but the rulers scoffed and sneered (turned up their noses) at Him, saying, He rescued others [from death]; let Him now rescue Himself, if He is the Christ (the Messiah) of God, His Chosen One!
Over the past month life was crazy with rehearsals for the play at the school, my own school work, a new covenant partner’s fellowship, and writing, being a wife, mom, and daughter to a newly widowed mom and the fast at church (that required more time in prayer, reading and meditation). My life is usually busy, but busy took on whole new meaning over the past month and half or so. During this time I experienced many things, many were great, and some that were shocking, hurtful and were crucifixions of sorts, in those moments I had a choice to retaliate, talk about them as they had spoken about me, or even try to defend myself or to pray. During preparation for the play, I watched day in and day out as the children performed their parts and said their lines, and something stuck out to me in a way that it had not previously, when Jesus was at the last supper he told Judas to go and do what He must, he never tried to stop him or to defend his position as the Son of God and then in the Garden he prayed and asked God to keep his disciples from the evil one and protect them, even though He already knew Peter would deny him and Judas was betraying Him, but the one of the most dynamic things that God allowed me to see was when Judas betrayed Jesus, He still addressed Him as friend and then on the cross as he was mocked and those who were crucifying Him gambled for His robe, He prayed for them and asked God to forgive them. He made a conscious choice to pray for them who had crucified Him and for us all who would continue to crucify Him as we chose sin and disobedience over, truth, obedience and repetence.
How many of us when we feel we are being burned at the stake, hung out to dry, misunderstood, lied on, mistreated and even sentence to death unfairly could pray for those who we felt were responsible. I recently had someone respond to a devotional on forgiveness that told me that we must consider someone’s capacity to forgive based upon how many times they may have had to forgive. I had to pray, because I wanted to ensure that I was responding as God would have. After praying and reading the scripture capacity has NOTHING to do with it, it is about the God in us, the Jesus in us, and the Holy Spirit in us. God sent Jesus into the world to not just become our sacrifice, but our example. He was the one that was to show us the way, and how we should live our lives. Through every possible situation that Jesus faced, He did not just blow up, react out of emotion of His flesh, He applied what His father instructed and told Him to do. He prayed and was led by the Holy Spirit and not His own flesh, because at the time when Jesus walked the earth He was fully man as well as the son of God. If it is so that we are joint heirs with Jesus, sons and daughters of God and the Holy Spirit abides in us why is it that we don’t follow the same steps that our elder brother and example did when handling life even to the point of being crucified by people’s thoughts, actions and words? Is it because we have not yet humbled ourselves to the will of God? Is it because we allow our flesh to have preeminence over our spirit or is it just a choice that we make to do things our way, with the hope and thought that God will bless our mess? It could be any one of those things and a host of others, but the fact remains that we are supposed to be Holy for God is Holy (Leviticus 11:44,45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, I Peter 1:16). We have a responsibility to pray for those who hurt us, do us wrong, talk about us and mistreat us, as well as a responsibility to love and forgive. Yes these are things that will challenge our flesh, but still they are our responsibility.
Take some time to evaluate how you are handling life, what are your thoughts and reaction when things and people are hurting you, casting you aside, trying you in the court of public opinion and even crucifying you, your name and reputation? Do you pray or do you attempt to get back at them, or are you trying to defend yourself? Following the example that Jesus set is really the only way to find sincere peace and to put ourselves in a place that God will be pleased with your reaction. Living as Jesus not just taught but lived is an testimony of obedience and a willingness to make yourselves as Jesus did of “no reputation” (Philippians 2:7). I choose to pray and not say, to be silent and not loud, and to allow God to be my peace and my defense, how about you, what do you choose to do? How will you handle your cross experiences?
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