Seven Statements from the Cross • Week 1

Forgive Everyone Who’s Trying to Ruin Your Life

Statement I — Luke 23:34 • Sunday Kickoff

I was moved this week when Chris Hodges closed out the Seven Statements series at church. If you are just joining us, this is a series about the worst day anyone has ever had. Not a rough morning. Not a hard season. The worst day. A man who had done nothing wrong was publicly accused, stripped, beaten, and nailed to a cross to die while a crowd watched and mocked. We could argue that no one else has gone through such grief and hardship, but each of us has our own kind to endure, so I thought it would be great to see where this takes us over seven weeks. Again this is for me; my hope is that it speaks to you in some way that is helpful as well.

The premise is that across those six hours, Jesus said seven things. Not one of them was about himself. They were about the people around him. What he said, in order, from a place of incomprehensible suffering, is a map for how to live through any hard day we will ever face.

This week we are sitting with Statement One. The first thing Jesus said from the cross was a prayer for the people who put him there. Before the soldiers finished their work. Before anyone expressed regret. Before the crowd quieted. He spoke forgiveness into the middle of the injustice while it was still happening.

What Jack Hayford Saw in This Moment

Jack Hayford spent years studying these seven statements as a guide for surviving our own worst days. His lesson from Statement One is direct: Forgive everyone who’s trying to ruin your life.

He writes that through forgiveness, Jesus retained control of the situation when it appeared he was being victimized by it. He was mastering the moment. The moment was not mastering him. That is the hinge. The person holding the offense is not the one with power. They are the one being held.

Where Love, Joy, and Peace Enter

Forgiveness is one of the hardest places where Love stops being a feeling and becomes a choice. Sacrificial love does not wait to be treated fairly before it gives. Joy is the power to endure something hard without being hollowed out by it. And Peace, the kind that is whole and complete and lacking nothing, cannot coexist with an open account. We cannot be content and bitter at the same time. One of them has to go.

This week, five real stories. Five men at different stages of life, each carrying something that felt justified, each standing at the crossroads. Come back every day and sit with this one question.

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