God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.
Late Easter Sunday evening (last night, at the time of this writing), I heard someone point something out to me that I’d never heard before. And that something was this:
Jesus’ first words from the cross were, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). (If you’re interested, I wrote more about that statement here: The 7 Statements of Jesus from the Cross: Statement 1, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34.)
And…
When Jesus made that statement, He was in the very midst of his torment. He was at the height of His suffering and pain and hurt.
So it was in the midst of His torment that He forgave His tormentors.
And that blew me away. Because all my life I’ve thought of forgiveness as something that happens after I’m done hurting, after I’m finished processing the hurt someone has done to me.
After.
But Jesus didn’t do it that way.
After realizing this, it feels almost as though God has given me permission to forgive people right away, even though I’m still hurting. And I find that so powerful.
Waiting to forgive might mean I never forgive at all.
And waiting to forgive will almost certainly lead to more ruminating about what caused the hurt.
“Lord, thank You for providing us with Jesus’ work on the cross so we can be forgiven. And thank You for His way, for His example, for the way He forgave in the midst of His suffering.
“Connect us to Jesus in the best way possible, Lord. And help us to forgive the way Jesus forgave, even while we’re still hurting.
“Connect us to Jesus and change us into the likeness of Jesus.
“In Jesus’ name we ask these things of You, Father.
“Amen.”
Notes:
Image of Christ on the Cross between Two Thieves by Peter Paul Rubens via Wikimedia Commons — Public Domain
The Love Like Jesus Book
Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!
Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)
Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:
- Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
- How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
- The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
- How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
- How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
- How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
- How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
- How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
- How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.
With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.
A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and Google Play Books.)
We also recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. It’s available on the following platforms:
It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.
