The election is coming, and we all have to face this difficult decision, but we don’t have to forget that it is just like Jesus to show up on the other side. Remember that each person, EVERY R, EVERY D, and EVERY L is a person for whom Jesus lived, died, resurrected, and lives evermore. Jesus freely laid down His life and allowed “deicide” (deicide is worse than homicide, deicide is the murder of God) to happen and even in the middle of allowed deicide (we all know that He had to freely lay down His life, because no one took it from Him… so technically it was attempted deicide, assisted by the surrender of life by Jesus into the hands of the Father), Jesus said “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” It is interesting to me that we can imagine a Roman Soldier who put Jesus to death being forgiven, but but many of us can’t imagine a Hitler, Saddam, Bin Laden, or the person in the other party (evil R’s, evil D’s, or evil L’s) being forgiven. If you aren’t forgiving, you are simply living like the resurrection never happened. Let me repeat and scream that “IF YOU AREN’T FORGIVING, YOU ARE SIMPLY LIVING LIKE THE CROSS, GOD’s FORGIVENESS, and JESUS’ RESURRECTION NEVER HAPPENED.” Matthew 6:14-15 is a good passage to face if you want to continue to live like the resurrection never happened… I’m not trying to scare you into forgiving others, Matthew 6:14-15 is a message about forgiveness but it is in the context of the Old Covenant. Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and forgiveness makes the Old Covenant obsolete (look at Hebrews 8:13, if my use of the word obsolete rubs you raw). I’m so thankful that the resurrection did happen and that Jesus through His life, death, and resurrection made the Old Covenant obsolete. Today, we forgive not to get forgiveness but because we realize that we’ve been forgiven. If you still struggle with a God that would forgive Hitler, the Roman Soldier, and I then you still miss-understand the GOOD NEWS! Read the gospels again and again, until you see yourself with Hilter and I in need of amazing grace!