Theme: Life - If Only...
Weekend Music links on iTunes: Sing To The King - Billy Foote, Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin, You'll Come - Hillsongs, Before The Throne - Shane & Shane
Read: Micah 7:18-19
Think: When Pastor Ben told the story of George Wilson in his Easter weekend sermon, I was stunned. A condemned man rejected a presidential pardon? It didn’t seem possible. So I looked it up, figuring there had to be more to the story.
Not really. In December 1829, Wilson and a second man named James Porter robbed a mail carrier. Although no one was actually hurt, the endangerment of the driver was a capital offense. Both men were sentenced to death on May 27, 1830, and Porter was hanged on July 2nd of the same year. However, acting at the urging of some influential citizens, President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson. Incredibly, Wilson wanted to decline the pardon, which, apparently, no one had ever done before. The issue ended up before the Supreme Court, which ultimately decided that a pardon can be rejected. If the recipient chooses to assert his right under the pardon, he is freed. If not, the conviction and sentence stand. Wilson went to gallows.
Wilson gave no reason for his rejection of the pardon. Isn’t that amazing? In writing the majority decision, Chief Justice Marshall proposes reasons why a defendant might reject a pardon. But Wilson left us no clue to understand his decision.
Are we any different? God offers pardon for sin to all of us. Some refuse entirely, and leave those of who have accepted God’s free gift as confused as George Wilson leaves us. But even those of us who accept God’s forgiveness and his offer of eternal life with Him sometimes fail to embrace it. We act as if some sort of reduced punishment is appropriate – we’ll take heaven for eternity, but maybe a little hell before then.
God delights to show mercy (Micah 7:18). Don’t reject any portion of the pardon He offers. Take it all, gratefully, and live the joyous life He wants you to live.
Do: When someone wrongs you today, pardon the offense, and let it remind you of how God constantly forgives you.Pray: Dear God, thank you for loving me, and forgiving me. Help me learn to delight in accepting mercy as you delight in showing it. In Jesus name, Amen.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.