"Being like Jesus"
He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. (Acts 7:60 NLT)
Stephan's last words on this earth were asking God to forgive the sin of the people killing him.
Wow.
Let that sink in. Actually, it should sound familiar.
One of the last phrases that Jesus uttered from the cross was, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
In this way, Stephen was being like Jesus. He not only wanted to live like his Savior but he wanted to die like him as well.
The love of Jesus for rebels & sinners should permeate our hearts & lives. The fact that he died for us while we were yet sinners should change the way we view others & the wrongs that have been done to us. To refuse forgiveness of others, especially when they do NOT deserve it is to show our deep lack of understanding of the love, grace, & forgiveness of God to us.
When we have been forgiven of infinitely more than we deserve, we can no longer hold back forgiveness from others. I'm not taking about people that come to us humbly & ask for it. The people mocking Jesus at the cross & the people stoning Stephen were not asking to be forgiven. They were not humbly seeking it. But Jesus & Stephen forgave anyway.
And it is particularly powerful when we forgive others even when they don't ask. We don't necessarily have to approach them & say, "You didn't ask but you're forgiven." But in our hearts, knowing we have been wronged, we forgive. Why? How?
Because a dying man on a tree once forgave me, even when I didn't ask.
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