I’m sitting at my desk on a Wednesday morning (obviously in front of a computer) trying to write about forgiveness without thinking of my own shortcomings.  I don’t think it’s possible. The fact is, I struggle with lots of things in my life.  I’ve lied, cheated, stolen, lusted, said stupid things, been angry in ungodly ways, blamed others for my mistakes, and oh so much more!  I’m not using you all as therapy, but I think it’s important for us to realize that people make mistakes of all shapes and sizes – and yes, unfortunately, that includes us!

That being said, forgiveness is a serious struggle in our world.  We like to hold grudges because it makes us feel powerful!  We don’t like to forgive because we’re afraid it will make us feel weak.  However, to make things clear, God’s Word talks about forgiveness, and God never stutters.  Read Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:15, and Psalm 103:10-13.  God wants us to forgive others because it clears the path for us to experience His forgiveness. Let’s be clear – Our forgiveness of others or lack thereof doesn’t dictate God’s ability to forgive us.  He IS capable of forgiving us no matter what we do – after all He is God.  However, we won’t experience that forgiveness and receive the ability to move on from our mistakes as long as we are holding onto the pain and anger from something someone did to us.

Here are the 8 things we talked about last Thursday night in relation to forgiveness:

1. Acknowledge you’ve been hurt
2. Think through that hurt – journal
3. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes – what are they going through right now that could cause them to act, talk, or think the way they are?
4. Remember, God forgave you so we have no right to hold onto something someone else did
5. God commands us to forgive – see the verses above
6. Let go of the pain and hurt – go to the person involved if possible
7. Continue to forgive – It probably won’t be all better overnight – it may take you saying it over and over again in your head (or even out loud) “I forgive you for…”
8. Pray for the other person – you CANNOT be angry at someone and pray for them at the same time

The practice of these things is much more difficult than writing them or reading them.  I’m praying for you to forgive today like we all have been forgiven!

WG

Good morning!

No matter when you’re reading this, I hope it finds you full of joy! I have told several people I would be posting about some of our fishbowl questions from the last several Thursday nights.  If you’re reading this and you’re unfamiliar with the concept – fishbowl Thursday came from something our student ministry did a few years ago. They had the students write down question pertaining to their spiritual lives (loosely pertaining in some cases) and they tried to answer them from a biblical perspective.  We adopted a similar approach but replaced the cards and fishbowl with texts and my yellow note pad so I could keep up with what had been asked without connecting a person to it.

Here’s a few questions that have been asked so far.

• Why does my life mirror the apostle Peter? I seem to make great choices at times and have everything under control, then in the blink of an eye I can do the dumbest thing ever.
• How do I share my faith with someone who is a professed atheist or agnostic?
• Which Bible version is the best and are there issues with some of them? – reasons I should/shouldn’t use certain ones

The last question I’ll mention is the one we covered last week and I want to spend just a minute recapping it.

Why do I feel guilty over every little thing? Is that healthy or right?

• The short answer is:  no it’s not healthy or right.  God never intended for us to feel guilty over the sin in our lives.  That doesn’t mean He condones it, or our sin doesn’t produce consequences.  God hates sin – mine and yours. His goal for a believer in Jesus is for us to live a life filled with holiness and love. However, He knows we will sin.  It’s inescapable. He still loves us anyway.  Romans 5:8 is proof of how He feels about us and our sin – “but God showed His love for us by loving me while I was still a sinner”.  He loves me, but hates my sin – but love wins.  He loves me so much that He made a way for me to conquer my sin and have the relationship with Him I was created to have – a relationship by salvation through Jesus!  Guilt is an emotional prison created by Satan to keep me beat down and prevent me from becoming who God wants me to be.  Conviction of sin comes from God, and is intended to spur my confession of sin and repentance from that sin.  Scripture never talks about us feeling guilty over sin.  Once it is confessed and I choose to move on from it, God sees it as over and done.  Psalm 103 clearly says He removes my sin as far as the East is from the West.  God doesn’t struggle with our sin after we’ve done what is asked of us in scripture, but we do struggle with it.  It’s much harder for me to forgive myself and move on.
• We also can feel guilty because we have taken ourselves out of God’s will for our lives.  I can agonize over and scrutinize ever little decision to the point I paralyze myself.  I’m afraid to make any choice because I might choose the wrong thing or make the wrong move. We constantly agonize over the wrong decisions and choices. We think “how can God use me?” when we choose poorly.  Guilt over poor decisions and choices can handcuff us to inaction.

I hope the questions and answers encourage you today!

If some of the other questions I mentioned spark something in you, please feel free to respond or ask for more information from our discussion of those.

We’ll tackle more questions this week!

WG