"There was a Roman soldier, a centurion, who was responsible for crucifying Jesus."

A thought by Kyle Idleman, from his book, One at a Time (p. 174). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Now that would be a hard person to love.

Kyle says, "He was the one who took Jesus’s hands and nailed them to the cross. This centurion was the last person Jesus touched before he died. This centurion was the person most directly responsible for Jesus’s death. Who could be harder to love than him?

"Yet on the cross Jesus looked at this man, then looked up to heaven and asked God to forgive him (see Luke 23:34).

Kyle continues, "When Jesus died, the centurion recognized and proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God (see Mark 15:39). He realized he had just killed the innocent Son of God. What did he need from Jesus in that moment? He needed forgiveness, and Jesus had already given it to him."

He then said, "C. S. Lewis wrote, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”(1) We love those who are hard to love because he first loves us when we are hard to love."

So, so, very true isn't it? Yes, yes! #continuethought

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