Tag Archives: forgiveness

Where did that verse come from?

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1 Corinthians 6:7
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
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This is a passage I would like to forget exists, just skip over it, and it seems I am not alone. Whenever I hear folks talk about lawsuits the standard in the church seems to be “Don’t sue Christians. Instead, take it to other Christians to mediate the matter.” That is what the “really spiritual” folks do – “sue” in church not in the courts.

But this passage presents even a higher standard.
1. If you sue at all, you lose already (you are completely defeated).
2. Take the hit. Absorb the wrong and move on.

Where would Paul get such a whacked idea? That isn’t justice! That isn’t fair! If I do that then I end up getting burned when someone else did the wrong. They go totally free with no punishment. Who would ever do such a thing?

Hmmmm. I think I see where Paul, or should I say the Holy Spirit, who wrote this through Paul, got such a whacked idea. That is just what Jesus did for us. We offended a holy God but He didn’t drag us before the court. He took the offense, absorbed the penalty. So the Lord is saying that if we want to really win, not be “defeated already”, we should follow His example.

I gotta admit, I like the way we have translated this passage better, “Don’t sue in court.  Instead, drag ’em before the church but make sure, one way or another, you get what is coming to you.  Don’t let those scoundrels get away without paying for their wrong against you.”

Lord, when I face such a situation, please give me grace to follow Your example of forgiveness and entrust the ultimate outcome to a God who judges justly.
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NOTE: Some might be thinking, ” But God will one day judge men for their sin” so He didn’t do what it says here, forgive them without them have to pay for their sin. Think carefully with me.  It is a fine line but men will not be judged for their sin as much as they will be judged for their response to what Jesus did for them. For example, when we stand before God the question is not, “Did you sin or do good in life?” The question will be, “What did you do with the Son? Did you accept or reject Him?”. Make sense?

Fight the Night Away

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Ephesians 4:26, 27
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
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Early in my marriage I was told this passage means my wife and I should never go to bed angry with each other. Doing so would allow the anger to “ferment” into bitterness (and give the devil a foothold in our lives). We sure didn’t want to do that so we stayed up many nights fussing and squabbling till we were both exhausted and couldn’t even remember what we were so mad about – but we were still mad and the sun had gone down (and sometimes was ready to come up again).

Eventually I decided that couldn’t possibly be what that passage was saying – mainly because staying up till we resolved the problem was turning out to be stupid advice. We usually didn’t come to any resolution, it got worse as the night dragged on and now we were going to be tired and cranky the next day also.  I didn’t know what that passage meant but I knew it couldn’t mean “fight the night away”.

I am embarrassed to say we were thirty years into our marriage before I realized the simple truth this passage was conveying. I can’t stop the sun from going down and I discovered I couldn’t always resolve the differences with my wife before it did go down but I could do one thing – I could forgive, forget it and move on before the sun went down.

After all, forgiveness, like love, is a decision, not a feeling. I could decide to forgive, drop the matter and move on. I didn’t have to find the magical, mysterious solution to our disagreement. I didn’t have to help my wife realize how right I was and how far off base she was.  I didn’t have to restore any “warm fuzzy” feelings. I just had to decide I was not going to carry this anger with me into the night. If need be, we could return to the issue the next day, after some sleep and perhaps with a fresh perspective and insight. As a wise eight year old girl put it when she was asked the secret to happiness, “Sometimes you just need to take a nap and get over it.”

So don’t let the sun go down while you are still fuming. Forgive, take a nap and get over it. Tomorrow will be a new day.
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James 1:19, 20 (NIV)
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

 

Aggressive Agape

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Luke 10:25-29
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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What was this expert in the law asking?  Who is my neighbor? In other words, just who do I have to love? I certainly don’t want to be wasting any love on anyone I don’t have to. The law seeks to limit liability and responsibility. “According to my contract I have to do this and no more.” “Just who am I obligated to love to fulfill the command? I will love my neighbor but no one else.”  Do you sense the straight jacket of legalism in this?

To answer the question Jesus told the story of the Samaritan who reached out to a robbery victim laying by the road and acted like a neighbor to him.   Though the Samaritan had no idea who this man was, his background, nationality or even whether he was “deserving” of his help he even risked his own safety to aggressively demonstrate unconditional love to a stranger.  No limited liability here.  Just aggressive, inclusive love. Who was the neighbor? The one who showed mercy.  Jesus then instructed the law expert to go and do the same, show mercy to everyone. In other words, Jesus said, you go and take action to make every person your neighbor and then love them.

I am eternally grateful that is the heart of God. By the law’s standards, I was not a neighbor of God. I was far from Him, a victim of the Evil one left without mercy to die. Though not deserving of it, Jesus showed me mercy, picked me up and paid the price Himself, no matter what the cost, to see me healed and restored.

Can you imagine the response of the man who had been beaten the next time he sees someone lying helpless beside the road. Surely he would stop and offer any help he could. Because he received mercy he would surely be one generous to give mercy also. If we have been forgiven then we must be those who forgive. If we have been shown mercy then we must show mercy – aggressively, inclusively, where it is not deserved nor can be repaid.  So who is your neighbor?  or rather, who can you make your neighbor today?
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1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

Cross Words #4

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Matthew 27:45-49
45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”-which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

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In this moment Jesus experienced a depth of grief that the Christian will never have to endure – the utter hopelessness of abandonment even by God. Darkness – as though the sun itself and all creation could not bear the sight of what was happening.  For the first time in all eternity the Son was separated from the Father, rejected by Him because of our sin.  Jesus, who always referred to God as “Father” became sin for us and can no longer use that term of affection and relationship.  As one abandoned and alone He can only cry out to the distant God. Continue reading →

Cross Words #2

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Luke 23:41-43
“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

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This thief on the cross seemed to understand what we try to forget – that we all deserve death.  If God were to annihilate all humanity no one could claim He was unfair or unjust.  We would simply be “getting what our deeds deserve.”  This second statement of Jesus from the cross is important because it assures us we do not have to “get what we deserve.”

The law of Kharma, in Texas terms says, “What goes around comes around.”  You get what you deserve.  The cross graciously crushes that concept forever.  I don’t get what I deserve.  By exchanging places with Jesus on the cross I get to be made right with God, I get to enjoy what only He deserved.  Does that seem unfair? It is!  Does it seem too easy?  It isn’t!  It was very difficult – so difficult that in anguish Jesus asked if there was any way He could avoid it.

It was hard, even for God, to pay the price to forgive my sins.  But it was impossible for me to do it so, if it was to be done, God Himself had to inflict the penalty for my sin upon Himself.  “This man has done nothing wrong” yet He absorbed the sin of the entire world so the entire world could have the opportunity to become right with God.
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2 Corinthians 5:20-21
We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 John 2:22
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.NIV

 

 

Cross Words #1

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Luke 23:33-34
When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
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In the agony of the cross the first word from the mouth of our Lord was “Father”.  Certainly our difficulties cannot compare with the torture of the cross but we too need to learn, in our pain, to make “Father” the first word on our lips, the first one we turn to.  He is there with us, just as He was with Jesus on the cross, even when things appear out of control and hopeless.

Jesus’ second word is another lesson for us – “forgive”. He did not wait until things were better but, in the midst of the rejection, humiliation, unjust treatment and pain, He forgave.  He didn’t just teach us to forgive, he modeled it in the most gruesome of circumstances.  He showed us to forgive when they don’t deserve it, even when they are not sorry and even if they do not ask for it.

The cross demonstrates forgiveness is not easy. It was not easy for Jesus and that is why He said the road is narrow and few find it – it is painfully hard.  Forgiveness is not fair.  In the cross, injustice and grace collide head on and grace triumphs.  Rejoice in that. Fairness and justice sends you and me to hell.  “Grace takes the blame, covers the shame and removes the stain”.*
* Brian Zahnd – Unconditional?
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Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”