I think the most beautiful words ever spoken by Jesus were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Now, I know He was talking about the people who were crucifying Him, but that was and is His heart towards all of us.
Then I think of how God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. The Father was fully in Jesus and Jesus was fully in the Father, when all of this was happening. The Father's heart was always about forgiving us. I think we often forget that all things were set in motion before there was a beginning to our world. The Trinity knew the dilemma that would happen before the beginning, and they had the solution. They just had to wait for the clock to tick in the earth, and the appointed time for the manifestation of the solution, Jesus!
The Godhead knows our blindness and the darkness that overcomes us. They know that we really do not know fully what we do, even when we do it. Their light is the only light that can penetrate our darkness and show us what we cannot see, and believe me, there are many things we each cannot see, YET!
I do not believe anymore that mankind is just dirty, worthless sinners with no good in them until God comes and lives in us. Yes, we need Him, but the Trinity declared mankind's worth and value to them before the foundations were laid. A man who does not know God, has good in them because all of mankind is created in His image. The image of God has become distorted in man because of sin and death, but it does not mean that image is not there. Once man begins to see through the light of His love and their need for the One who made them, the image gets corrected over time. This is the family of the Godhead that I now know.
Even though I now have His life living in me, I still need the reminder of Jesus beautiful words to me, "Father, she knows not what she does, and you have completely forgiven her." When He reminds me of this, it is easier to forgive others because they also know not fully what they do.
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