Injustice will challenge your faith in man and God. Just ask Job or David.
- Vengeance is a poison we drink waiting for the other man to die.
- Buddha said “You are not punished for your anger but by it.
- It spawns and it spreads….and it mutates and it poisons – Bosnia – Middle East – Ireland – Ruanda – The list is endless.
- Forgiveness is what I do today about yesterday for tomorrow.
SO WE CAN SHARE GODS VICTORIES
Adam and Eve were separated from God – Driven out. For the next 900 years, they got to discuss “You ate the fruit!” – and He said, “You gave it to me…!” At some point we say enough – I am sorry – there is only two of us ….let us get along.
My point is that mans sin separates Him from God and the next 6000 years is the story of Reconciliation – A husband rescuing an errant wife – God rescuing a sinful people – the center of this whole story is the cross.
His love for Jerusalem. Over and over they murdered His attempts at reconciliation. He did not wait for them to repent – they never did – Ninevah did. He chose his favorite righteous people (prophets) and sent them to die in with an attempt at reconciliation and forgiveness for them in Jerusalem. Some reward? Did He stop after the murder of the prophets……No! He did not learn they were not to be trusted for despite it all, He then sent them His only Son. He followed a murdered Son, Yeshua with apostles, all of which were to be martyred. He is still sending you and me…..
It is that quality in Him that is our only hope. And Jerusalem knew better, as they had His law and His priesthood – There is no excuse for them. But God never stopped trying – Now He again has sent us with this message of peace – Reconciliation is translated “peace” by some translations.
2 Corinthians 5:18 But all things are of God, who has made us at peace with himself through Christ, and has given to us the work of making peace; Reconciliation
Forgiveness is not a victim position but it is the greater strength – For you do your worst to me – with all your rage and all your spite and I respond not with greater rage, not with a lawsuit but with forgiveness/grace. I bend in the storm like a willow, not an oak and it goes by and I remain.
Forgiveness is Spiritual and can never be defeated by the physical.
Satan murders God and His dying words were Father forgive them and that dying wish turns that crime and loss into mans only hope for the future.
There is such joy granted the extender of grace – not the receiver. The recipient may not even know they were graced. Joy is with the extender of Grace. The Injured Party is the winner – not the Perpetrator.
Lost Sheep – Lost Coin – Prodigal Son – The sheep is still a dumb sheep – The shepherd is the one who understands what just happened. The Shepherd has the party – The Father is throwing the party He understands who was dead and is now alive. The prodigal son had no idea about the spiritual implications. He was just motivated by better circumstances – better food as a servant.
The Finder of the coin knew the emotions loss create, and the joy of the finder. God loves sinners, for their absence creates deep feelings of longing in Him. His mission in life is directed to them, not the righteous, we must just make sure we realize there is none righteous and so join Him.
I wonder if God has regrets and 2nd guesses His own work? He wants none to be lost and yet He loses and it grieves Him – Could He have done differently? When the Story of mankind ends it is only God that does not get His wish, “That none be lost.”
Christianity is not about how we treat our friends…..it is about how we treat our enemies. This is a church is not Rotary club or Toastmasters. This is what makes Christianity so radical and truly unpalatable to the normal mind.
What chafed the Pharisees was this forgiveness Yeshua handed out to wicked people. They show up sick and he forgives them. He hung around all the wrong people. He tells Peter never stop forgiving – Never keep score, not fairness but mercy, not justice but forgiveness. The cross fulfills the law of fairness and justice and restitution and gives us the beatitudes a whole new way of looking at things. It defies all sense of fairness. You marvel at your own grace and yet you can not bear to forgive??.
Love your enemies…..Do good to those that despitefully use you. Turn the other cheek – Pray for those that persecute you.
See the world through the eyes of God – Life cannot touch you in the realm of the Spirit.
In the Lords Prayer – The first request of God in this prayer is actually your contract with God – “Do to me just as I do to others”
Overlook my daily repetitive screw ups just like (in the same manner) as I overlook others daily repetitive screw ups.
Please tell me He did not mean AS I FORGIVE – because then I am in deep trouble???
MATT – 6v12 And make us free of our debts, just as we have made those free who are in debt to us. That is your and my contract with God.
As we forgive so we are forgiven. His forgiveness and mercy is His bridge to us – Do not destroy your bridge to God! You may need it. I want a wide bridge…so I can find my way back to God – and I will need His forgiveness in the next 20 minutes.
Those are the only two things He makes conditional in His relationship to us – Mercy and Forgiveness. We get as we give.
This is a transaction between God and us. We are somehow agents of His forgiveness. When we judge someone else is not worthy of forgiveness – We have just shut the door on our own forgiveness. We are the conduits of God as we emulate Him and He works through us — and we cannot be judging where forgiveness ends…and who is worthy of it. When we stop forgiveness from us we stop forgiveness to us! That is a fact. When we judge the unpardonable sin in others we commit it in ourselves.
Matthew 5:23 If then you are making an offering at the altar and there it comes to your mind that your brother has something against you, v 24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
God says “Before you do any other religious practice even prayer – Go square the fault with your brother up and then we can talk.
Who will ascend to Hill of the Lord – those with a pure heart – the Psalms says – Our heart and emotions cannot be full of other people’s sin and blood who like Abel’s cries for justice. Then we go to pretend to God that emotion is not there .”.
COL 3v13 – 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man hath a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
The blood of Abel cried for Justice to the ears of God – A whole legal system is set up of “eye for an eye” and 4 fold restitution for theft and blood sacrifices for sin.
“The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”—Hebrews 12:24.
Jesus last words – Father forgive them for they do not know what they do ……His blood did NOT cry for justice – He said the hurt ended there and He absorbed it. The cycle ended. It was over. While bleeding He said forgive them. The blood was not held against them even though they cried His blood be on us.
Today He is still saying they do not know what they do…He is now still pleading our case as our mediator our High Priest.
“But how can I forgive someone who has not repented . . . someone who does not think their actions are wrong?” Simply look at Jesus on the cross. Learn from your Master. He forgave those that “do not know what they do”
When we judge and condemn or retaliate some indefensible action against us – Did we read their hearts intent and understand all the pressures on their life…Do we really know what we are doing, or are we operating with really incomplete information.?
Jesus last dying words were for mercy and more mercy for the unmerciful who were unrepentant and should have known better. His blood speaks of that mercy and his dying words become his life work as soon as he arose – intercession for sinning idiots.
So how do we forgive – This is not nearly explained as well as the why’s.
Most books I read are plain wrong and some excused sin and some denied sin and forgiveness is neither. Some like Toxic Parent and Toxic Faith blamed the sinner and said to punish them, so they could learn responsibility.
- First, God rediscovers the humanity of the person who wronged Him. He does this by removing the barrier created by the sin of that person.
- Second, God surrenders His right to get even. Instead, He chooses to bear the cost of the person’s sin His own body.
- Third, God revises His feelings toward the person. He finds a way to “justify” the person when He looks upon him or her as his own adopted child. This restores the person’s “divine image” (being made in the image of God).
