Day 30 – Forgive us our sins as we forgive

I forgive you but…. What is like to receive the gift of forgiveness without even asking for it? To be greeted with the kiss of grace and the embrace of God's love when we like the thief on the cross merely asked to be with Christ. Jesus offered forgiveness to those who mocked him, those who beat him, and those who sent him to die in the way he did. This to me rings of the words – while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Even before we can contemplate the need to be given forgiveness God is at work prompting this to happen through the work of others. But yet we need to be willing to join in this process and extend the same gift to others. I forgive you but leads us into the land of conditional language. To a place where we hang our frustrations, our hurt, and our attempts at putting limits on what God so freely grants. Indeed forgiveness is a challenge – yet we have the example of Jesus declaring entrance into the kingdom of God, even for one condemned a criminals death. This is good news.