After a brief eighteen months in ministry a pastor went to his filing
cabinet to pull out the file marked ‘Love’, but he discovered he didn’t have one. Impossible! It
must be misfiled, and so he began to search. He searched among the files marked
Faith and Fasting, and then between Healing and Heaven, but no Love. Perhaps it was sandwiched
between Christology and Christian Education. After all, these are concerned
with Love aren’t they?
But it wasn’t there. Nor was it found
after Money or ahead of Missions. When he stopped to reflect, the Holy Spirit
solved the mystery for him. The Love file was not misfiled; it was actually
scattered throughout his files.
Parts of it were found under
Patience, Kindness, Humility, Trust, Hope, Loyalty, and Perseverance. But the
pastor found the greatest part of the Love file squarely- centred and
deeply-seated in Forgiveness. *
Forgiveness demonstrates true love as
an offender is pardoned and set free from guilt or blame, and this is what
Jesus demonstrated as He lay dying upon the cruel cross on Easter Friday.
Firstly, He asked God, the Father, to
forgive His executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they
are doing.”
Then Jesus forgave one of the two
criminals that were crucified with him. These guilty men hung on their own cross,
one on either side of Jesus.
Physically, they were equally separated from
Jesus and spiritually, they were equally separated from God. However, one criminal chose
eternal life and freedom from the guilt of his sins by asking Jesus to bridge
the gap between him and death.
The exchange of words between Jesus
and the forgiven criminal clearly spells out the steps to salvation through the
forgiveness that is freely available in Jesus.
This criminal acknowledged that Jesus
was innocent, whereas he was a sinful man who deserved to die for what he had
done.
When the other criminal hanging
beside Jesus scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and
us, too, while you’re at it!”
The first criminal protested, “Don’t
you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for
our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
His words show a clear recognition of
the authority of God. Then with a repentant heart he said, “Jesus, remember me
when you come into your Kingdom.”
He trusted in the saving power of
Jesus. This penitent man realised that because of Jesus, death would not be the
end of everything for him. Jesus accepted his confession of sin by replying, “I
assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Our sins separate us from God, and
Jesus is the only way to restore our broken relationship with God.
Jesus was an innocent man who died to
pay the penalty of death for our sins. He died on our behalf so that we might be
reconciled to God and be forgiven for our failure to obey God and live in His
ways.
It is the prayer of the FSAOF that
this Easter many people will hear the Gospel story and recognise the authority
of God and their own sinfulness, and they will be led into a life-saving experience through the unconditional
love of Jesus for all mankind.
· Adapted from James S Hewett, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc,
Illinois, p. 224
Tomorrow the FSAOF will look into the meaning of the Cross
by three of the 20th century’s most celebrated Christian hymn writers and composers; Erik
Ball, Sidney Cox and George Bennard, all former Salvation Army officers.
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