. . . and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:12,14,15 (ESV)
From these words spoken by our Lord, we know that we need to be concerned about forgiving others. Like so many other aspects of the Christian walk, forgiveness can be difficult to nail down since it is something that takes place in the heart and mind of the believer. I recently read an article* about forgiveness that helped shed some light on this topic. There were five points listed about what forgiveness is not. Here they are.
My local Jehovah Witnesses recently came by for a follow-up visit to an earlier one (which I wrote about here on the blog - “When the Arians came calling“). During their most recent visit I was asked: “Other than your disagreement with our view of Jesus being a preexistent angel, what else would prevent you from being a Jehovah Witness?”. My response was that there were several other views that I did not agree with (e.g. their view of the 144,000, and some others), but it was their prohibition against blood transfusions that I thought was not only wrong, but just plain dangerous and insidious.
Though the video above is humorous, it strikes a convicting chord because it points out our tendency to forget and marginalize God. We fill our lives with so many people, so many events, and so many things that we have no time left over for God. Even for those of us in full time ministry, it is a constant battle to not substitute the work of God for actually spending time with God. Even so, the Scripture is very pointed on how God feels about “competitors.” Please consider the following verses:
Deuteronomy 4:23-24
23 “So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you. 24 “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
I’m not one that is usually surprised by what I find out about the world today. I know that sadly the lines of morality are getting more blurred and that the black & white of what is right and wrong is often getting repainted with drab coats of grey. But two things that I encountered in the last few weeks have made me downright troubled about the lack of any kind of a moral compass in today’s society.
First a friend sent me this article with some cutting quips about the writer’s poor attitude toward her marriage: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/26/o.divorce.dreams/. I too not only found the writer’s “me-first” attitude stupid and beyond selfish, but more so that this was coming from the world-wide leader in “it’s-all-about-me” Oprah Winfrey and her publication arm - Oprah.com. And probably because of that, it was picked up and published out on the websites of CNN, and MSN (on their front page - lead featured article one day).
I read an article recently detailing the benefit of using self control to gain mental strength. You can read the article in the Albany Times union archives entitled, “Grant funds study of self control” from a gentleman named Mark Muraven. In it an amazing comparison is made to practicing mental restraint in order to gain overall mental strength. Here is a quote from the article,
“Mark Muraven, a social psychologist, theorizes that self-will is a muscle. Exercise it, and it gets stronger.”
and
“From my perspective, you can never have too much self-control,” Muraven said. “I think it’s the most important part of people’s lives. Without self-control, people and society would have a lot of problems: debts, crime, failure to work, obesity and health problems.”
In Australia’s prominent churches (including world-famous Hillsong), this passionate, talented, and broken 28-year-old was not just a hero but a superstar. Until he confessed to the lies about his terminal cancer and his addiction to pornography, all of which have come as a painful shock to those closest to him. …
While some might want to write Mike off as another right-wing, power-hungry prideful preacher using Christianity as a vehicle for his own fame with no concern for others unless they can help build their empire, this simply is not true of Mike.
To lead is to serve. It’s as simple as that. There is no place for status-seeking, manipulation, and exploitation. The directives on this subject could not be more clear:
“And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called `Benefactors.’ “But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.” (Luke 22:25-26)
There is no place for strong-arm tactics in the body of Christ. True power and influence is found through the fraternal Order of the Towel and Basin. Those with power and authority will not be found at the top of the ladder demanding allegiance and respect; they will be found serving at the bottom through menial tasks.
I will start by saying I like ice cream very much. I like Klondike Bars as well. So my criticism of a new 15-sec commercial that I saw recently has nothing to do with the product involved, but instead that the culture that this ad is marketed towards is as true as the ad portrays it to be. Here is the commercial I am speaking about:
What did you think? Certainly one could easily find humor in this ad, but isn’t that sort of sad. A man is portrayed as accomplishing something great when he looks his wife in the eyes and avoids looking at another woman as she passes by? Is this where we are at men? Now I know this post will reach a primarily Christian audience but I though it was appropriate to raise this question to those who do have a high moral standard of living as followers of the Messiah? Have we let the society around us take our manhood from us?
Wow. Powerful for sure. She speaks to a common misconception in the church today which makes people think that they cannot be holy. Yet page after page we see the call to “be holy as I am holy” and the like - with words which tell us the LORD will enable and empower us to do so. So which sin, which area of your life is too powerful or tied down which cannot be overcome and broken by the power of the God who can create a universe with a word?
Our desire should be to give it all to Him. If one recognizes what the LORD has done through the Messiah on behalf of us, shouldn’t that love push us, motivate, even control us to give love back to Him?
Years ago when I first began to take a look at Messianic Judaism I was under the impression that they were Jewish yet believed that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Jewish Messiah. But I soon discovered that this was not the case. In fact modern Messianic Judaism – to use a Scriptural description – is really more like a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
I’m sure many people have heard about “Jews for Jesus”. And perhaps just as I did originally, many may perceive them to be just what their catchy group name suggests, Jews that believe in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. Some may even perceive them to be a branch of Judaism that is simply reclaiming the faith that Jesus, his Apostles, and Paul all practiced in the 1st Century. But nothing could be further from the truth.
My local Jehovah Witnesses recently came by for a follow-up visit to an earlier one (which I wrote about here on the blog - “
Years ago when I first began to take a look at Messianic Judaism I was under the impression that they were Jewish yet believed that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Jewish Messiah. But I soon discovered that this was not the case. In fact modern Messianic Judaism – to use a Scriptural description – is really more like a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.