Forgiveness

Hello again!  Over the past week the notion and mention of forgiveness has shown up over and over again at random times during work, church, and even my devotional from yesterday.  I am feeling as though God wants me to touch on this topic with y'all.  

Forgiveness, in and of itself, sounds like a very simple concept, until it comes time for you to give it.  When we wrong God through our sins and struggles, it has become second nature for us to accept the forgiveness that He so freely gives because that is a part of our faith, our relationship with Him, and the redemptive power that relationship brings.  However, when someone wrongs us, we seem to so quickly forget the lessons God has taught us on forgiveness.  If we have been hurt by someone, this idea that seems so simple, suddenly becomes much more complex in our heads.  "How can we forgive them? They don't deserve forgiveness after what they did!"  Ever had thoughts like this run through your head?  The truth to the matter is we forgive because it is what we have been called to do.  In Matthew 6:14, it is clearly laid out that, "if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you."   

If we truly examine forgiveness, it really is quite a radical concept.  God gave the utmost example of love and forgiveness by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins; we did not deserve this love, and definitely not this forgiveness for all of the sins we have done, and will continue to commit, but He forgave us anyway.  This unmerited forgiveness that we receive from God on a daily basis is truly an act of grace and mercy that we need to reflect in our own lives.  We may not feel that people deserve our forgiveness, but if God based His forgiveness on whether or not He thought we deserved it, I can guarantee Hell, rather than eternal life, is what we'd have to look forward to.  If we can change our perspective on forgiveness to one that more accurately portrays the forgiveness that God calls us to give, I feel that both giving and receiving forgiveness from others will become engrained in who we are as Christians, and also grant us the forgiveness from God that He promises us.  

Verses:
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
~Mark 11:24-25

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatestdeclares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
~Jeremiah 31:34

I will leave you with this parable from Matthew 18:21-35 to think about.  


Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”


I pray it helps you to understand and begin to change your perspective on this radical act of love that forgiveness was created to be.  Much love and God bless!

He is More

Hey y'all, its been too long, and I apologize for disappearing over the summer, but I decided to commit some more time to my personal relationship with Christ to, in turn, have more to reflect on for all of you.  A lot has happened over the summer, including a new job as an RN (yeah, gotta be a grown up), another amazing Agape tour with a bunch of awesome lads and lasses, Sonshine weekend 2012, and countless other experiences that I will remember for all time.  And although I may not be starting school today like many of you, I decided it would be a good day to dive back in to this blog, to delve into the Word, to spark some conversation, to grow closer in Him, and hopefully bring a little insight and joy into some of your days.  

The past few weeks have been incredible for me, yes they've had their downs as well, but Christ and His plan for my life has been overwhelmingly evident.  However, in all this, it struck me that it is in these amazing times in our lives when we often forget Who should be getting the credit and gratitude for these things.  It is so easy to fall on God in the rough and terrible times, to come crawling to the foot of His throne, begging for forgiveness, and we should do these things, but why is it then that we don't come running to Him with a prayer of thanks and love when His reasons for our hardships are made evident in our successes?  He is worthy of more than anything we could ever offer, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't offer anything at all.  

This past week, Chris August released another album and the title track is entitled the Upside of Down, and it speaks to these same truths I've been addressing.  He sings of how sometimes it takes the sad and troubled times to realize where our happiness is truly found; in Christ.  We need these troubled times to recognize our absolute need for Christ, but we also need to remember and acknowledge Him in all of our ways, including our highest of highs.  Here is the link and the lyrics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ko0tcmW3U

The downside of being up is my inside is empty of
The one thing my heart truly needs
When I feel invincible a million miles from miserable
It's always all about me

I don't know why I don't love You like I should, like You would
Through bad and good oh

Funny how we figure out where happiness is found
In the midst of this sadness I'm closer to You now
And that’s the upside of down, the upside of down
It’s all switched around, I lost and I found
The upside of down

You are more in my less, You are strength in my weakness
I'll never go back again
And then Your sunshine ends the rain and I return to my old ways
Why am I a fair weather friend?

I wanna be the one to love You like I should, like You would
Through the bad and good oh

Funny how we figure out where happiness is found
In the midst of this sadness I'm closer to You now

That’s the upside of tragedies knowing You're holding my heart always, always
I may be down but I'm finding there's joy in the pain, in the pain

Funny how we figure out where happiness is found
In the midst of this sadness I'm closer, I’m closer to You now and oh

The upside of down
It’s all switched around, I lost and I found
The upside of down

Scripture:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

He deserves all of our affection, attention, love, and gratefulness at all times; not just when we feel as though we need Him for something. He is more than we could ever ask for or imagine, and though His strength is more evident in our weakness, I think its time we start acknowledging Him in all circumstances, good or bad, failure or success.  He deserves all that we are, all of the time.  I love y'all and am excited to be starting this back up with all of you.  God bless!