July 12
Bible Reading: Acts 7:54-60
Acts 7:60, “And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
The testimony of a neighbor of one of our hospice patients, who had been with the patient the day before she died, encouraged me. Though not a praying person, our patient had taken time to pray that day and even prayed for my wife in her battle with cancer. We rightfully hold in high regard someone’s dying words, for they typically reveal something of their innermost thoughts and concerns. There’s much similarity between the dying words of Jesus and Stephen, especially as it pertains to asking forgiveness of those who had done them harm.
That Jesus prayed for our forgiveness, though it was our sins that put Him there on the cross, is an amazing thing. That Stephen prayed for the forgiveness to who were stoning him to death, is likewise astonishing. Imagine his pain! They threw stones at him. He threw prayers to God.
God only knows the full breadth of the impact of Stephen’s words on those who heard, but one case stands out. Saul (later “Paul”) will headline much of the remaining chapters of the book of Acts. It is here we find him first mentioned. As the accusers were rushing Stephen out of the city to stone him, they “laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58). Saul approved of Stephen’s execution (Acts 8:1). He would lead in the persecution of Christians, “ravaging the church” (Acts 8:3). His radical conversion, from persecutor to apostle, lay several years in the future. There can be little doubt, however, regarding the indelible impact of Stephen’s dying words on Saul’s heart. In fact, it was with these words that Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me” (Acts 9:4)?
Words are powerful. The beauty of Stephen’s dying words stood in sharp contrast to the anger and violence of that scene! Forgiveness is a powerful tool in the believer’s apologetic arsenal. When we forgive, as Jesus has forgiven us, we speak in the language of the cross, from which all true forgiveness flows. You don’t have to wait until your dying day to speak such gracious and Christ-honoring words, as we are even now to be “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave” (Ephesians 4:32).
When we forgive, we speak in the language of the cross.
FORGIVE OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE
‘Forgive our sins as we forgive,’
you taught us, Lord, to pray,
but you alone can grant us grace
to live the words we say.
How can your pardon reach and bless
the unforgiving heart,
that broods on wrongs and will not let
old bitterness depart?
In blazing light your cross reveals
the truth we dimly knew:
what trivial debts are owed to us,
how great our debt to you!
Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, bound to all in bonds of love,
our lives will spread your peace.
LookingtoJesus 