Knowing You Need the Forgiveness He Offers

On this day last year, I was thanking the Lord for my new husband

It's Maundy Thursday and I feel unprepared for this Easter weekend.  Yes, I've been practicing in the choir for weeks, and there is a general air of thanksgiving in my heart, but the mumbled commitment of 'being more sacrificial' seems to carry little weight in my soul.  It is so easy to miss the chances to practice sacrificial love....to lay down my rights for others, for my God.  And yet, He did this so freely, taking the cup that Last Supper eve, and drinking down the wrath His father would lay on Him so soon.  Am I willing to drink from the cup He drank from?  To experience the pain of sacrifice, of a life lived with no regrets because it's lived empty of self?  I still have so far to go.  I look back and remember where I was a year ago, however, and feel thankful that I have grown....but still so far to go.  Always so far to go when compared to Christ.

And yet I, we, can rest in the knowledge that we are deeply loved, deeply forgiven.  That love and forgiveness was bought for us this very weekend so many years ago, as our Savior hung on the cross willingly.  Am I willing?  Do I even see the battle I am facing, to choose Christ over self?  I am thankful for reminders that quicken my spirit....the voice of the Lord whispering to me, a friend's prayers, the words in a book, the blog that challenges me, the lives of those who have gone before....

It all adds up to a soul that desperately needs the forgiveness that is offered her.  And so this weekend, I drink deep of all I am given in Christ...I come to Him dirty, He washes my feet, and His blood is sprinkled on my guilty head as I kneel before the cross of His suffering.  Tears threaten and my heart is at rest.  These days of Holy Week mark a new season for me...a chance to come to Him anew, walk the road He walked, and find joy in suffering for this Great Cause.

Knowing I need all the forgiveness He will offer.  Knowing that the forgiveness He offers is all I need.

I pray your heart will be stirred this weekend, and that you will come away thirsty no more, having tasted the water that will forever quench your soul.

For more on forgiveness, read my latest letter here....

Ruth