Tag: forgiveness

Categories
God

Life Is Messy. Our Families Are Too. God Still Has A Plan For Us.

Though we can make things quite messy – including our lives and our family’s lives – I am thankful that God loves us through the messes we  make. 
photo of messy paint splatter everywhereFor example, I know that Abraham and Sarah were godly people. However, as we read their story in the Bible, we see that they still struggled to do what was right. Some of the errors they made: Abraham was fearful that the attractiveness of Sarah could get him killed as they travelled (he had more fear of man than he had trust in God). His fear led them to tell half-truths to several people (another word for that would be lying!). There was also impatience with God’s timing, which led Abraham to sleep with Hagar to help God out instead of waiting on Him. Then there was Sarah’s jealousy and mistreatment of Hagar. And yet, through it all, God was good to Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac.

That’s the amazing God we serve – still loving us in the midst of our messy mistakes and sins.

And we see this repeated in Abraham’s grandson Jacob, though it seems to get even worse. We find out that Jacob was a liar who deceived his brother and father, but his uncle Laban turned the tables on him, which landed him with two wives (which was not God’s plan for marriage). And his wife Leah finds herself married to a man who didn’t choose her. Leah was in this mess of a situation due to the lies of her father and herself. She was part of the lie which wed her to Jacob. Not only that, can you imagine the anger that this act would have provoked in Rachel, knowing that her older sister tricked the man she loved into this marriage. So add in family divisiveness. What a mess.
photo of an extremely cluttered and messy storage roomAnd yet, even though Jacob didn’t love Leah in the way that he loved Rachel, God still loved Leah and blessed her. And even though Jacob had also been a deceiver, God still loved Jacob.

The whole story is strange, and it is a bit difficult to understand God’s working through what seems such a dysfunctional family full of deceit and jealousy. However, even with all of the sinfulness in the family, God still loved them and had a plan for them. I’m thankful for this story!

Here’s why: I’m glad to know that God is so gracious and forgiving toward us. I’m so glad that He still has a plan to work through the messes that I make in my own life and within my own family.
Aren’t you glad He loves you and works through your messes too?

You don’t have to clean up your life to come to Jesus. But once you come to Jesus, He will begin cleaning you up. Come as you are, with all of your messiness. Turn your messy life over to Him. He’ll love you in the midst of it all, and He’ll begin to clean you up.photo of a clean and orderly grocery store reminding us that our messy lives can be cleaned up

Take a moment to thank God that even though you have been a mess and you have made some messes, that He is a God who loves, a God who forgives, and a God who redeems!

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Categories
Relationships

Forgiveness: Is repentance necessary? What if they don’t apologize?

This great question about forgiveness and repentance was posed to me:
I’ve heard people talk about forgiving people, but I do not believe that it is scriptural to forgive someone who hasn’t asked apologized. I do not believe a person should have anger in his heart toward the person who wronged him nor should he be wanting revenge. However, I do not believe God expects something from us that He is unwilling to do. He loves those who are lost, but He does not forgive them until they come to Him in repentance. So should I forgive someone before they offer me an apology?

What would your response be if you had received this question?
Are there any wrong assumptions within the statements leading up to the question?
a pencil that has written the word "sorry" symbolizing forgiveness
Here was my response:

My basic premise for stating that you should forgive those who have hurt you, even before they have apologized is that Jesus Christ did the work of forgiveness for me on the cross before I ever asked for forgiveness.

I believe that this may just be an issue of semantics regarding our wording. But here is my understanding:
I believe that the words “forgiveness” and “reconciliation” are two different words that are both needed for salvation.
I believe that the act of forgiveness was done on the cross. The gift was provided.
In a relationship, forgiveness can be provided by only one party.
But reconciliation does not occur until both parties have acted.
One provides forgiveness and one accepts it.
Therefore, I would say that God did the work of forgiveness, is offering it to us, and it is then up to us to receive that gift of forgiveness to be reconciled to Him.

Jesus prayed to the Father while on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The Spirit of God was indicating that forgiveness was being offered to them, but it would take a desire on their part for reconciliation to occur. One thief beside Him asked for it, and one didn’t.

One of the characteristics of our great God is His loving, forgiving nature, and He expects us to have that same nature. We are to love others, even our enemies, and that means that we are to offer them forgiveness, even if they do not yet deserve it because they haven’t asked for it. It is up to them whether or not to be reconciled to us. The offer of forgiveness is to be there ready and available. They just have to take it.

It’s easy for us to balk against this idea, until we think about parenting. Parents do this often with their children. There are very many times during the time you are raising your children, when you have already forgiven your child even before he or she apologizes to you. The relationship is damaged until reconciliation occurs, but forgiveness can be offered even if the child does not yet even know about it.

So the big question for you now is: Who do you need to forgive today?

.

Categories
Jesus

Hello 2017 – Let’s Hit The Reset Button!

Well Hello. It seems we’ve met here before, but it seems it was a long time ago. Let me introduce myself… again. I’m Brian… and somehow I got lost out on the information superhighway.

Well, I didn’t actually get lost, but I did disappear! In January of 2015 I set out on a journey with a goal of posting on my website every day (and it then gets posted to email, Facebook, etc.). I didn’t quite meet the goal, but I came close with 340 posts instead of 365. So in 2016, I set out on a new journey with a slightly less ambition goal. I got 7 posts done in January and February toward that goal.

And then I stopped posting completely. I guess I achieved my less ambitious goal!
It has now been 11 months since I have posted anything.

While I could offer plenty of excuses for why I have been absent, it wouldn’t be very thrilling reading material. So instead of boring you with those details, let me just say that it is time for me to hit the reset button. Reset button from Nintendo I now hope to wade back into the waters. I think I will set my new goal to fall somewhere in-between my number of postings from 2015 and 2016 (So I just need to fall somewhere between the narrow range of 7 and 340 posts!). Don’t get excited about me coming back just yet. Let’s see if it actually holds up!

I did appreciate the kind words from several of you who indicated that you missed the devotional thoughts when they stopped coming. So I’m hitting the reset button and…off we go again.

Let’s think a bit more about that “reset button.” The reset button is great for gamers. You are playing a game, and it isn’t going the way you want. Hit the reset button… and start over. But we now find the reset button in all sorts of technology. You’re phone isn’t working right because you downloaded a problematic app. Pull out a paper clip, unwind the end, and press it into the tiny reset button hole… and start over.

Wouldn’t it be great if when life wasn’t going the way you wanted, if life wasn’t working just right because you made a wrong choice, and you could simply hit the reset button… and start over?

In a way, with Jesus, we can. He offers us forgiveness that cancels out our debts:
“When you were dead in your transgressions… Jesus made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” RESET!

Our sins can still have earthly consequences that we may have to face, such as if you were speeding you might still have to pay a fine, but the spiritual consequences of eternal punishment for sin… RESET… Jesus has wiped out the consequences for you by paying for the consequences Himself.

I’m so glad that God provided me with a “reset” opportunity through Jesus and that I have received undeserved forgiveness through His grace.

Categories
Relationships

Things We Get Wrong, Part 3… Inviting People To Church

When I started out in youth ministry, I had the idea that I should invite any and every teenager who I could find to come check out our youth worship services. So I did. And some of them even came. And some of them had not grown up in church. And some of them were a bit rough around the edges.

Therefore, I was quickly taken aside and told by a couple of the members of the church, “Be careful what teenagers you invite into this church, because some don’t know how to behave in church, and they don’t need to be here until they learn how to behave.”

WHAT??

sign stating "wrong way, go back" to signify things we get wrong

Were they serious?
Unfortunately, yes.
And as a young minister who was about 25 years younger than them, I didn’t know what to say. (Though I’d have some choice words for such a comment said to me today!)

“They don’t know how to behave.”
“They shouldn’t be allowed here until they can behave.”
So who is supposed to teach them how to behave in church if not the church?

Of course, I disagree with the whole “in church” mentality anyway. People are the church, not the building at a certain address that you find yourself “in” on a given Sunday. But apart from that technicality, when we have these types of attitudes, we have gone back to the system of the Pharisees that says: “You clean up your act, and then you can come to know God.”

Instead we should be living in the system of Christ that says, “You come as you are – with your sin – and let Jesus embrace you and remove your sin – then He will help to clean you up.”

Which attitude draws people?
Which attitude is compassionate?
Which attitude shows love?

Jesus drew people to Himself, was compassionate, was loving… even to the outcast and the sinner. How is it that Christians are so often seen as people who push people away and are not known for compassion or love? How do we get this so wrong?

We are told to imitate Jesus. So what does that mean? It means we should be people of grace, forgiveness, and joy so that we help to show what Jesus is like – the One who loves deeply and constantly pursues us to transform us into His likeness.

I’m glad I didn’t fall into the trap that these two people set for me, and instead kept on inviting new teens – even the ones who didn’t yet know how to behave! I guess I’m still learning how to “behave” as well! And that is fine by me.

Now go out and invite someone to be part of your faith community.

Don’t invite them “into” a church building. Invite them into church – into the relationship of family that it is.

And don’t worry about whether they know how to behave. When Jesus gets hold of them, He’ll take care of cleaning them up the way He wants them to be. You and me… we’d just mess it up!

Categories
Worship

Placed In His Arms

Another scraping from the bowl…

“What is the ultimate good in the good news? It all ends in one thing: God Himself.
All the words of the gospel lead to him, or they are not gospel.”

“For example, “salvation” is not good news if it only saves from hell and not for God.
“Forgiveness” is not good news if it only gives relief from guilt and doesn’t open the way to God.
“Justification” is not good news if it only makes us legally acceptable to God, but doesn’t bring fellowship with God.
“Redemption” is not good news if it only liberates us from bondage, but doesn’t bring us to God.
“Adoption” is not good news if it only puts us in the Father’s family but not in his arms.”

Just reading these words helps to fill me up. I don’t just want heaven, I want to be with my Father. I want to be in fellowship with Him. I want to be in His arms. I’m so glad He provided Jesus to allow me to rest there forever!

(quote from Jon Piper’s book ‘For Your Joy’)