Tag Archives: Forgiveness

Times are tough

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“Times are tough all over” is the title of hit song from 1990. It was also the title of a Cheech and Chong movie but I digress. People have been saying this for years and since 2008, we all know someone who feels it. This phrase has become a way of saying to someone “you aren’t alone” or “its happening to everyone” but it doesn’t make anyone feel better. Why do we suffer? I’ve mentioned before that Lisa and I believed that our 3 hour round trip to see our premature daughter in the hospital was building character. Today, we all know someone who has received a cancer diagnosis or another type of life altering medical diagnosis. We hear them ask “why me, why did God do this to me?” I have a very dear friend who suffered a massive stroke back in February. He had a bleed deep in his brain that caused left-sided paralysis and a number of other physical issues. His family set up an on-line journal for them to post about his progress. His wife has been posting daily and sharing stories that remind us that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. Not once has she said “why me” but instead she has remained dedicated to her husband and telling his story. He will spend months, if not longer, in a wheel chair and will require long hours of therapy every day to regain control over simple things in his life. He has a large family and a number of grandchildren, I’m sure he’s happy to see them on a regular basis. There is no regret and no “why me”, they continually thank God for the blessings that have received everyday so far. They have hope. On the flip-side, one of my daughter’s friends is struggling to maintain her job, care for her child and finish her college education; she’s thinking about quitting school. She is losing hope and her future is in jeopardy; so is her child’s for that matter. They are two people struggling in this world; living the “times are tough all over” kind of lives. What can we do help them – we can offer hope and support.

“Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12

Some people look at this verse as proof that God is testing them before they can have eternal life. Yet others view it as even though you are tested, do not give up hope because the promise is still yours. You do not have to buy, perform, sacrifice, say, write or do anything to receive forgiveness. God has given us that gift already; we are forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The crown of life James tells us about is found in our belief that Jesus is our Savior. We don’t know why some people suffer more than others. We certainly don’t understand why some people deal with their trials better than others. It isn’t for us to understand. Think about the trials that St. Paul suffered and he was a persecutor at one point in his life. Job suffered too and had God’s favor. There are millions of people on this planet suffering simply because they believe in Jesus as their Savior. What hope do they have? They have faith in God’s word and in His promises. It might be all they have but they have it. God is not punishing them or testing them more than anyone else. The devil is still at work in this world and when hope is dimmed he is encouraged; it becomes his foothold in our lives. God is telling us through James don’t lose hope but persevere because eternal life waits for us. To me, that’s a good reason to keep hope alive.

Easter Monday

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I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. It’s a great time of year! I was particularly moved today by the readings we had in church and decided to write a devotion that is mostly Bible verses. While this too, is a departure from my normal process, I felt it was appropriate to continue the discussion about our salvation. 34 “Then Peter began to speak: ”I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is LORD of all. 37You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:34-43

The story of Jesus gathered up here in 9 verses, God truly works in mysterious ways. Accepting that God inspired the words written in the bible is accepting that these words are also from God. The real “story” of Jesus is the message in verse 43 in which we receive forgiveness of sins through Him. Pause and think about that for a minute, forgiveness of sins – all sins. Nowhere does it say that forgiveness is limited to a specific number of sins, the type of sins or whom we commit them against; we can receive forgiveness for all of our sins. Live your life free from the guilt and slavery of sin. We have the ability to do it and God gave us the directions how to through St. Paul who wrote: 15”Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the LORD Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:15-17

We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ today. We celebrate our salvation and life everlasting because of God’s grace in our lives. Jesus took the guilt and sin of the whole world with him on Good Friday as He suffered and descended into hell. All of that would have been for nothing if He hadn’t been raised on the third day. We celebrate our salvation because of what God did for us. St. Paul reminds us to live in peace and do everything in the name of Jesus. Have peace this week as you celebrate your salvation.

Sinfully Late

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The impending veto by Governor Brewer made it a little crazy in Arizona last week. There was confusion around what HB 1062 intended to accomplish. Perhaps it was clearer to some but as with all poorly written legislation, it was at best confusing and at worst it was discriminatory. The whole issue however was a great opportunity to discuss the love of God and sin with people who you might not ever have had the chance to. I missed my usual Monday morning posting again this week, which makes me feel like I missed a commitment. I had opportunities to write this last week but did other things instead; perhaps even wasted time. Some would argue that I sinned in both regards, but what else is new? I know that not a day goes by that I don’t sin and most of the time I’m completely unaware of it. Someone last week asked the question, are there degrees of sin? It was a great question because some people have a hard time accepting “big sins” but easily overlook the “small” ones; but sin is sin. I will argue that all of the discussions, arguments and debates were focused on the wrong part of the equation; we focused on the sin. “Love the sinner, hate the sin” was the big take away many people had. While it’s a good one, we kept the focus on the sin. I looked at a number of passages for this week that focused on God’s love, living in peace and some on sin but remembered to focus on why this whole dialog started – fear.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:28

The other side of the equation that no one discussed was forgiveness. There is not a day that goes by that we all don’t sin. We can’t avoid it no matter what we do, thanks to Adam and Eve. Sin came into this world to destroy it but God had other plans. God loves us despite our sins. 16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18) We are forgiven, period. No amount of sin, no degrees of sin, no amount of guilt or fear can change that we are forgiven through faith in Jesus. Yes, we should love our neighbor as ourselves and yes, we should hate the sin, not the sinner but we should never be afraid because we are forgiven.

The work out

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Nothing like being twelve plus hours late in getting a weekly blog post out! For now in only the second time, I’m late in getting this out. The “holiday” weekend threw me off cycle; I thought I still had a day to go. In any event, I was moved this week following a bible study at church to write about working out. While I wish I could give great fitness advice, I’m not doing that here. We all use the phrase “work out” in a coupe of ways: “I hope this works out”, “I will make it work out”, “I’m headed to the gym to work out” and “can’t we work this out”. Each one of these phrases has a slightly different meaning. At work, we all try our hardest to be the best that we can; some days are better than others. When our motivation is low, it takes everything that we have to “make it work” or simply “make work.” The word WORK for some has become a four-letter word. The number of people who hate their jobs is high, the number of people looking for jobs is high and the number of people retiring from jobs is high (I skipped any Colorado reference here). I read that the number of people quitting their jobs is a good sign of the economy improving; who knew? Most people simply want their “work” to be satisfying and others simply want to find some work. No matter your desire, working, while highly overrated, is still a critical part of our lives. How we behave, what we say/do, how we work, will all say a lot about our character. It’s not the work it’s self, it’s how we approach the work. No matter what you do, you are still important to the people around you and the people at home. While we would all love to sit home and have good money deposited into our checking accounts each payday, most of us have to “work” for a living. Our work however doesn’t have to be a four-letter word, no one makes us miserable, we simply let them make us that way. Take control and work hard for yourself; besides you never know who’s watching.

12”…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  Philippians 2:12-13

There is often huge confusion about part of this verse: “work out your salvation”. Some people believe that you must work for your salvation; you need to earn your way to salvation. However the concept of justification says something quite the opposite. We were justified by Jesus’ death and resurrection. This means that those who believe in Him are “not guilty” of their sins in the eyes of God, we are forgiven!  The Holy Spirit works in us through sanctification so that we may live out our lives in faith. It is the combination of justification and sanctification that we can remain steadfast in our faith of eternal life. It’s certain something better than sitting home and having good money deposited into our checking account! Like a trip to the gym, we “work out” our salvation by studying the word of God and participating in the sacraments much like a cardio and weight regimen. Like a personal trainer, St. Paul’s letters are filled with great advice for us to maintain our workouts and remain strong in our faith. God is working in you to be the best person that you can be. He is working in your life not to satisfy your wants and needs but to fulfill his good purpose for you. Let the hand of God guide you no matter what is happening in your work life; He has a purpose for you, let him reveal it knowing that you are not guilty of your sins through His justification and sanctification.

Getting Right with God

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Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and this morning I will be attending a presentation about his life. One of the local senior groups hosts a wonderful tribute to a great man. I must admit that I knew little about him before attending these events but I have come to understand more than the civil rights fight that he undertook. He wouldn’t accept the status quo; he wouldn’t back down against great pressure nor would he compromise his beliefs. He spoke to millions of people all around the world, a simple message – we are all one people. Lately in the news there have been reports of Christians being persecuted in a number of places around the world standing up for their beliefs. In schools and movie theaters people turn to violence to solve their differences or solve their conflicts. Martin Luther King Jr. fought against violence and took a stand to resolve the differences in a non-violent way; though not everyone supported that strategy. His speeches were moving and his understanding of the issues was extraordinary yet many agree his work remains unfinished. He used his talents to change the world. Most of us will never reach the stature of Dr. King but we can have a huge impact on the world around us. Each of us has God given talents that we can use to impact those in our lives. Sometimes people are in our lives for a brief moment, like in line at the grocery store and others are people we’ve known for years but we have the opportunity to model the same beliefs that Dr. King did, good Christian values.

“For in Him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge…” 1 Corinthians 1:5

I met with a friend the other day who was sharing a problem that he was having. It was serious and will have life long implications for him. As he described his problem he said that he has done a lot things in his life and that he didn’t feel “right with God yet and as long as I’m not right with Him, I can’t be right with anyone”. This statement stopped me dead in my tracks; how could someone who professes to be a Christian say something like that? I seized the opportunity to speak my knowledge about our savior, Christ Jesus. I reminded him that he was already “right with God” because of what Jesus did for us Easter weekend.  1 Corinthians 1:7-9 goes on to say “7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” We lack nothing; there is nothing we can do or must do to be “right with God”. He knew our weaknesses long before we did and sent us a savior so He could enjoy eternal life with us. God decided we were worth it long before we could do anything to prove it to Him. Send your grief, your guilt and your anger to God, He wants to take away the sin of this world and those things that stand in the way of your relationship with Him.

Mistakes and Reactions

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This weekend we saw some great NFL football games in the playoffs. Four games were played, four teams won and four teams lost. There were mistakes made, no doubt about that. I’m not talking about any game in particular but games are usually won because one team took advantage of someone else’s mistake. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Someone makes a mistake and the office jerk is not only quick to point it out but also then tries to take advantage of it. We all forget that post-it-notes were a result of someone’s mistake. How do you react when someone makes a mistake? I worked in an organization once that someone in HR got a little complacent and let a laptop get stolen with everyone’s personal data on it. The organization went crazy. People were calling for swift action and her head. I sent her an e-mail to tell her that it was just a mistake and tried to encourage her as best I could. I thought that she needed to know that not everyone was melting tar and gathering feathers. She remained employed and has always remembered my compassion. There was nothing that we could do about the data being stolen once it was gone. The organization took steps to help everyone and refocused attention on data security; it was the best we could hope for. People make mistakes all of the time. A baseball player who hits the ball 33% (.300 avg.) of the time is considered a great player. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that kind of productivity goal? So next time someone around you makes a mistake or you do; give them a little smile and let them know that it’s okay. The office jerk will get theirs in all due time.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

We always seem to make one mistake after another; breaking commandments left and right. How can we call ourselves Christians if we can’t live a life without sin? St. Paul would certainly have a thing or two to say about that. His first direction in this one verse as part of a letter to the Ephesians was “Be kind and compassionate to one another”. This is a great place to start. How you handle yourself with others is a good indication if the messages have gone to your core. My guess is that you are compassionate and caring toward others. You do your best to help when you can and pray for help when there is more than you can handle. We forgive and forget a lot more often than we give ourselves credit for. If you held on to every wrong against you, the weight of those emotions would be crushing. We forgive strangers everyday yet we find it hard to forgive those we love. We expect our loved ones to behave better than a stranger and when they don’t, we hesitate to forgive. Jesus Christ taught us to be patient with everyone, even loved ones. His own disciples were less than helpful at times yet He forgave them. God, Our Father in heaven who loves us so deeply, is compassionate with us even when we disappoint Him. All of our sins have been forgiven by Jesus’ death and resurrection, no exceptions. God forgives you for the sins that you have committed and those that you have yet to commit; that’s why we can call ourselves Christians. Go out and demonstrate God’s love through your faith in Jesus Christ, the world needs our kindness, compassion and forgiveness.

Forgive and Forget

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“Forgive and forget”. It work great in theory but its hard to practice on a reguar basis. We always seem to be quick to forgive but never quite get to the forget part. Men famously complain that their wives never forget “that one time when we were dating” – years ago. Men are just as bad, so I’m not celebrating here. Saying “I made a mistake” is one of the hardest things people can say to each other. It shows great humility and is a demonstration of respect that the person has for the relationship. There are several versions of “I made a mistake”: I was wrong; I shouldn’t have done/said that; I didn’t mean to or that’s no what I meant and the newest version – just kidding. I don’t quite get that one. Despite all of these versions, what we don’t often hear is a good old fashioned – “I’m sorry”. Sometimes mistakes have consequences, one of which is it affects someone on a personal level. When it does, we should acknowledge the effort it took to admit the mistake by responding to them with affirmation that it’s “okay” or “I forgive you”. Our human nature makes forgetting about it hard; this mistake or hurt always seems to resurface when the same person is involved in a new but similar situation. Our brains are programmed to “recall” events and how we reacted to them as part of learning and rapid decision-making; so the mistakes comeback sub-consciously. We have to keep it “in check” and dismiss it from our reaction (unless it’s a duplicate event). Ultimately, give everyone a little grace and your forgiveness.

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:14-15

St. Paul was telling the Philippians to leave the past behind them, forget their old ways, old habits, old beliefs and old understandings. His advice to us today is the same, look toward the future and to what you can do today to live a better life. No matter what you’ve done, leave it in the past. At the time Paul wrote these letters, the people of the world were leading pretty brutal lives. They raped, pillaged and murdered each other. It was an “every man for himself” world. They watched human slaughter for entertainment in places like the Coliseum in Rome. He was telling them to leave all of it the past and focus on the future prize promised by God – eternal life through Jesus Christ. I have no idea how many people read this each week but I will bet that no one has lived a life today like those who lived in the First Century. No matter what you you’ve done, look toward the future you have through Christ. God wanted you saved, that’s why He sent Jesus to die for our sins – then and now. You are forgiven! As it is written in Acts 10:43 “…Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.” There are no other versions or ways to say it; you are forgiven. Now start living and looking toward to the future with Jesus Christ.

Happy Easter!

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Yesterday, we celebrated Easter with Easter baskets, Easter egg hunts and Sunrise services. It is a wonderful time of the year! Spring is just getting started (for most of us anyway), the year is rising from the dormant winter much like Christ rose on the third day. A couple of weeks ago I was having coffee with a friend of mine when he started to talk about religion and his faith in God and our savior Jesus Christ. We talked about the various denominations out there and how people are searching for the “right church to belong to” as if it mattered whether you were a Catholic or a Lutheran. We both agreed that it wasn’t the denomination that was important but that they all had underlying belief in Jesus Christ as our savior. He then said something that really hit the nail on the head – “the importance bible of the bible can be summed up in two verses John 1:1 and John 3:16”.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

When you read these two verses, you realize that he was right. Take away the differences between denominations, the doctrinal teachings and the “special rules” of each “church” and it all boils down to “the Word was with God and the Word was God.” God gave us His divine Word through the writings of the bible. He ensured that the messages He wanted sent were done so through the pages of the bible. As sinners, we continued to follow our own hearts and minds doing what we believed to be right. Knowing that we were not capable of doing what was in our own best interest, God intervened again. He sent His one and only Son to us. Not to just help us but to save us. God’s word tells us “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”. An eternal life that we will share with God our Father, Jesus His Son and all of the other believers. As my friend said, “what else is more important?” Knowing that you will have eternal life for your faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest gift at this time of restoration. Go out today, this Easter Monday, and every day remembering that you are saved not by your own doing or your own works but by the grace of God.

Holy Week

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Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.35For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD. – Proverbs 8:34-35

Holy week is upon us! I will be focusing on the meaning of Holy week and the celebration we will have next Sunday – Easter Sunday. We will also mark the saddest day in our church year as well – Good Friday. No one really feels good about Jesus’ crucifixion but it marks the beginning of the end for Satan’s hold on our lives. Jesus fulfilled his mission to save the world that day but no without extreme torture; he was sacrificed so that we might live with our Father in heaven for all eternity. On that good day, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, defeated the burden of sin for us all forever. How quickly we can forget that we are free from the penalty of sin and can look forward to eternal life. All that happened on one “good” day. However, the job was not complete. Jesus still needed to descend into hell, finish the job and rise to life once again on the third day.

Our forgiveness from sins was raised up to heaven along with Jesus and we now enjoy the freedom from the hold placed on us by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The Proverbs verses tell us the rest of the story. “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” We are blessed because we have the word given to us by God Himself and listen to the messages of Jesus Christ about how to live our lives. We watch the doors of our lives to be sure that we remain strong and keep Satan in his place by knowing and believing that we have eternal life in Jesus Christ. We wait for the day that we will be raised from the dead, like Jesus, to live eternal lives in paradise.

We can only do this through our faith in God the Father and His Son, our savior Jesus Christ. “For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.” God is always with us, which means that so is Jesus. We all struggle in our lives to live as Christ taught us to and we fall short. It’s Satan who puts guilt in our minds and on our hearts he’s the one telling us it really doesn’t matter. His words are empty and his promises are lies, the one who told us to “find me find life and receive favor from the LORD” is the only thing we should be listening to. Know that your sins are forgiven, no matter what, if you have faith in Jesus Christ as our savior. There are no degrees of forgiveness or no works that do it for you, God’s grace to all of us means a life free from the guilt of sin and forgiveness of those sins for all of eternity. If that isn’t something to celebrate, I don’t know what is.

Do me no wrong

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“I’ll never forgive them for what they did to me!” Have you ever uttered these words? They say trust is hard to build and easy to lose. We have all experienced that. How easily all of our good work, extra hours and overtime are erased when we make one mistake. Our years of trust are wiped out – in both directions. We no longer trust those that lead and they have weakened trust in us. When does the erosion stop? We must have some faith and hope that our leaders will return to a sensible state and we move forward. We followed them for a reason or we wouldn’t care what they thought of us. If we are simply following them because they sign our paycheck, then our relationship is not affected when we disappoint them. However, being thankful for our job and working at our best is something we do for our families, or ourselves not for the leaderless boss. Take your “oops” and turn it into a learning experience. Find your mentor, confidant or peer who will help you learn. Sometimes these experiences are gifts from others, wrapped in ugly paper – yes, but a gift nonetheless. In all situations that go bad, we share the blame; so make the make the most of it.

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you for your sins.” Mark 11:25

Forgiving someone is one of the hardest things we will do in our lives. It’s easy to do when the circumstances are minor, like not being able to go the movies. It is a little harder when someone we care about humiliates us, talks badly of us or commits a “wrong” in some way that affects us. We hear about family members forgiving a murderer or thief and most of us wonder, “How can they do that?” Our Father has forgiven us for the things that we do that humiliate Him or when we steal time from Him. He knew we needed help in learning about forgiveness, so he sent His Son to us not only as a savior for our sins but to give us an example to follow. Jesus showed us how to forgive; we just need to be reminded. Forgive and move on; life on earth is too short to carry around the weight of unforgiven issues.