Not By Works

How many times must I be reminded that salvation is by grace alone and not by works?

It seems like every time I dare to suggest that following Christ involves things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, preaching the Gospel, or giving away everything for the sake of Christ, someone is gracious enough to remind me that we’re not saved by these works, we’re saved by grace.

Thank you.  I appreciate the reminder.  Sometimes I forget.

(Warning: Rant Alert – Be prepared for mild to moderate lambasting in the remainder of the article)

Deep breath . . . NO DUH!!!

Listen, I gave to charity one time before I knew Christ.  I dropped $5.00 in a Red Cross umbrella at a Target after Hurricane Katrina, and on the drive home afterwards, I stopped at a Taco Bell and was ticked that I didn’t have enough cash to get dessert because of my moment of weak generosity.  I didn’t help my friends, I didn’t love my family, I most certainly never associated with someone beneath my social circle, and I collected stuff to the point that there literally wasn’t room to walk in some of the rooms of my house. 

When I was saved by God’s grace, I sold everything, gave it all away, and now live solely for the sake of Christ and loving others.

Works didn’t save me.  God’s grace saved me, but He saved me into a life of working for Him. 

I’ll tell you what: you “show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”  (James 2:18-20)

If you’re quick to throw out that verse about being saved by grace and not works anytime the topic comes up because you don’t want to give up anything for Christ, you’re a lazy servant at best.  Do you know what happens to lazy servants? 

Jesus says this to them:

You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:26-30)

You can’t work you’re way to heaven, but you can't sit around on your grace all day and hope to get there either.  This is not an either/or thing.  If you don’t have works, you don’t have any evidence of God's grace.  You certainly don't love Jesus.  Because when you love Him, you're compelled to love others.  And love is demonstrated in works.  So repent and get right with God. 

Yikes!  Did I really say it?  You betcha!  Somebody has to. 

For the record, I’m not claiming to be the guy with ten talents.  Most likely, I’m the guy with one, but you better believe I’m going to give a proper account and hand in two when the Master returns.  Not because I want to boast, but because I love Him so much.  If I can give Him three, four, or more, I will.  I’ll give Him everything because He’s worthy.

Will you?

(End of Rant: My apologies to my regular readers.  This post stems from frustrating conversations in other arenas, but everyone needs to vent sometimes.)

An Arsonist in a Flammable World

There’s fire in His eyes, and I’m not using some cheap cliché either.  There is literally fire in His eyes.  The Arsonist’s gaze turns my way, and I can tell He’s looking to light the match in me too.  It won’t take much; I can feel these dry bones aching to combust.

Still, I resist.  I am afraid.  I turn to run, but where can I go.  He’s everywhere I look.  His fire calls to me; it beckons: “Come and die that you might truly live.”

“I am alive,” I retort, but it’s a lie.  I’m not even sure what “life” is, but I know I haven’t got one.

I am alone yet surrounded by others fleeing the flame. It’s hard to tell where we’re running in the darkness, but we can’t stop lest we be consumed. Some have surrendered to His fire, and from the depths of the inferno, they plead with us who run: “Turn back! Turn back!  That’s the road to destruction. Turn back!”

I laugh.  How can I not?  They’ve given up everything to the Arsonist, and they have the audacity to lecture me for running?  I call them names.  I tell them to put out the flames.  I tell them to run with me, with us.  We can outrun the fire in His eyes. It’s easy, way more easy than confronting Him.

I don’t know how it happens exactly. I’m sure if I look back at the path I’ve taken it would make sense, but somehow I . . .

I fall.

Lying on the ground, I know I’m broken.  There’s no coming back from this one.  I’ve done too much damage.  I look up and see two feet like molten bronze in front of me.  It’s the Arsonist.  He’s finally caught up with me. 

“I’ve never left you,” He says. His voice is like leaves in the breeze.  He reaches down and pulls me to my feet.  And for the first time, I pause and look deep into the fire in His eyes. 

It’s love.  Burning.  Passionate.  Zealous. Obsessive. Love.

The fire burns for me. 

It burns in me. 

I’m baptized in it. 

And then the water comes.  It’s alive, pouring out of the Arsonist like a flood, but it doesn’t douse the flames; it fans them.  Suddenly, I’m ablaze in love.  I can’t contain it; it’s bubbling over like a volcano ready to blow.

The Arsonist turns me toward the runners, and I’m horrified by what I see.  The runners are dry, hollow, just kindling ready to spark.  They’re running toward a chasm of flame, but it’s not the same as the Arsonist’s.  It’s dark.  Flame without light, without love.  He points toward them, and tears fall from the fire in His eyes as He says, “Go, tell them to turn back to Me.”

So, I go.  I tell them about Jesus.  I tell them how He wants to set their world on fire, so they don’t burn it down.  Some turn. Others do not.  And my tears mingle with the Arsonist’s.  Oh how I wish they could know the heights and depths of the flames of His love.

For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)

To Tattoo or Not to Tattoo?

That is not the question, but it certainly is one question a lot of younger Christians are asking these days.  In fact it was a question that I had to ask in college when a lot of my friends were getting them.  I decided against it, and here’s why:

There’s only one verse in the Bible that mentions tattoos: “'You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:28)

Usually the response to this verse by those who want to get tattoos goes a couple of different ways:

1. This verse is applying to pagan rituals that God didn’t want the Israelites participating in.  Tattoos today are purely adornment and not ritualistic.

2. This verse refers to Old Testament law.  We’re under grace now, so we don’t have to follow the law.

The issue that I struggled with was that while tattooing may not always be ritualistic in our culture; it’s still very ritualistic in other cultures today when they worship their gods or the dead.  I also had a hard time when looking at some of the other rituals included in this Leviticus passage: eating blood, divination, soothsaying, purposefully cutting yourself, selling your daughter into prostitution, not keeping Sabbaths, not revering God’s sanctuary, and turning to mediums or spiritists.

Are these things we can do as long as we’re not ritualistic about it?  Likewise are these things we should go do just because we’re under grace now?

Paul writes, “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law.” (Romans 7:7)  He also writes, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” (Romans 6:1) We are not under the law, but we should not purposefully seek to break it and sin either. 

If all the law would be fulfilled by, as Jesus says, “Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-40)  Then getting a tattoo, having been restricted in the law, must somehow be an unloving act toward God or others.

When I came to that conclusion, I decided against it.  After all, did God not fearfully and wonderfully form me in my mother’s womb? (Psalms 139:13-14)  Is my body not the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6:19)  Would I graffiti the temple of God and defend my actions as artistic expression?  That’s not revering God’s sanctuary, which you’ll notice is in this list from Leviticus too.

Here’s the thing: grace is being forgiven for not loving God with everything you have (sin), so that you can love Him the way He loves you (righteousness).  The Old Testament law is founded on loving God with all that you have to offer.  I could not bring myself to sin so that grace may abound and get a tattoo.  I just couldn’t do it. 

What's Your Pleasure?

Tonight, I went out and picked up Taco Bell for dinner—just for me mind you.  My wife and son had already eaten, but I had a school board meeting that ran a little late, so I was on my own for dinner.  I didn’t necessarily need Taco Bell, but it sounded good, and since I’m the only one in the family who likes it, it’s my food of choice when I’m eating by myself.

Their Mexican Pizza is by far the most exquisite, delectable junk food I can imagine.  I’m sure it quite literally will be the death of me.

And there in lies the issue doesn’t it.  The things that bring us temporal pleasure in this world are killing us, literally killing us.

In church today this issue came up not once but twice, in Sunday school and in the pastor’s message.  That’s usually a pretty good sign that I need to perk up and pay attention.

In a society where our basic needs are met, it seems that our goals automatically shift to what will give us the greatest pleasure.  We blindly follow Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological Needs > Safety Needs > Belonging Needs > Esteem Needs > Self Actualization.  

Pleasure in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is fleeting.  Your physiological needs may be met today, but tomorrow famine might strike the land.  You may be safe today, but tomorrow someone might steal your wallet/purse and your identity along with it.  You may greatly love the family you belong to, but tomorrow they could all be killed in a car crash.  You may have great self-esteem, but tomorrow you may be humbled.  Self-actualization does not last because, this may come as a shock to many readers, the world does not revolve around you. It doesn’t revolve around me either.

In reality, there is no hierarchy of needs.  The road to fulfillment doesn’t look like a rainbow pyramid.  There are no steps to reach self-actualization.  There is only one need, and it’s not some thing that you can just check off a list; in fact, it’s a He not a thing at all, and His name is Jesus Christ. 

Pleasure that lasts only comes through Him.  Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

When we do those things that please God, He takes care of the rest.  When we give up self, we can be Spirit-actualized, which is an eternal pleasure that no circumstance will ever take away.  That’s Good News! 

So, I’m sorry Taco Bell, but as tasty as your Mexican Pizza is, I’d give it and you up in an instant if it pleased my savior, and I’d happily say that about any temporal pleasure on this Earth. 

Now dear reader, let me ask you:  How willing are you to give up your worldly pleasures for the sake of the One who gave Himself for you?

Were Jesus’ Prayers Answered: Eternal Life

Part 5 of a 5 Part Series

I was given the opportunity to teach the college group at our church once again this Sunday, and our topic of discussion was based on Romans 6:23.  If you grew up in church, this ought to be a familiar verse.  It says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This verse ties in very well to my discussion here on the blog about whether Jesus’ prayers in John 17 were answered or not, as you’ll see later in the post. 

I think there are two questions that ought to be addressed in understanding this verse.  1.  What is Sin?  2. What is eternal life?

Awhile back I wrote a post entitled: What is Sin?  I address the sin question in depth there, and I encourage you to read it if you want a more lengthy study, but sin basically boils down to anything that is not loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and anything not loving your neighbor as yourself.  If you do anything, and I stress anything, outside of these two areas, it’s sin.  You’ve fallen short.  You’ve earned death, and you’ll not find one person on Earth outside of Jesus Christ who can say they’ve lived that life.

So what’s eternal life?

It seems like such a self-evident answer.  Living forever, right?  In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, He begins by praying this: “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.”  Again, there’s that idea of the gift of God being eternal life.

And yet we all die.  Do we have eternal life or not?  Is it just in the resurrection that we live forever, or did God answer Jesus’ prayer when He prayed it? And C.S. Lewis once said, “You have never met a mere mortal.”  Everyone technically lives forever; the concern is usually location.

But to really answer this question of “what is eternal life”, we have to look at verse 3, where Jesus defines in very specific terms what eternal life is: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Eternal life is knowing the One True God.

So, let me put Romans 6:23 in perspective for you: Sin is not loving God with everything you have, and the wages of this is death.  But the gift of God is that He forgave you for not loving Him, He paid the wages of sin at the cross, and because of His great love for you, He has made a way for you to know and love Him again through Jesus Christ; this is eternal life.

Eternal life doesn’t start when you physically die; it starts when you come to know God.  And when you know Him, He empowers you to love Him with everything you’ve got (aka stop sinning).  It’s the beautiful circle of grace freely given by God to all who call on His name and believe. Amen.

Were Jesus’ Prayers Answered: Joy

Part 4 in a 5 Part Series

In this series we’re looking at Jesus’ prayer in John 17.  Did God answer that prayer? I think we can assume that He did.  It was Jesus praying after all.  When Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He prays, “"Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." (John 11:41-42) 

Likewise the prayer in John 17 is for our benefit, and its answer is for our benefit as well. We know this is so because Jesus says, “these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” (John 17:13) 

Jesus prays this prayer that believers can be full of His joys, so why is it that we mope about all the time without any joy?  Was Jesus’ request that we be full of His joy denied?  I don’t think so.  I think what we need to ask is what does it take to be full of the joy of Christ?  The answer to that is found a couple of chapters earlier when Jesus says,

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:1-11)

So, being full of Christ’s joy requires that you abide in Christ, that He abides in you, that you bear much fruit, that His words abide in you, that you abide in His love, and all of this comes by keeping His commandments.

In the simplest terms obedience shows love for Christ and loving Christ brings joy.  You’ll never meet someone more full of joy and obedience than someone who loves Jesus. 

Flee From Idolatry

Have you ever been told that an idol is anything you put above God?  So it would be something like you watch television more than you read your Bible and pray, maybe you spend more time following sports, more time shopping, more time with family, etc.  

But is that what God says idolatry is? 

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were constantly falling into idolatry.  They made themselves a golden calf only 40 days after hearing the audible voice of God on Mt. Sinai and called it God.  But these idols weren’t always exalted above God.  The Asherah poles or trees were planted right beside the altar of God.  (Deuteronomy 16:21)  Or they had household idols while still worshiping the Lord (Judges 17:5-13)

The point is that these idols were not replacements or exalted over God.  They were exalted against God by being worshiped at all.

The sermons you’ve heard suggesting that idolatry is anything you exalt over God are at least partially correct in that idolatry can be something other than just a graven image.  The Bible says that idolatry is an issue of the heart:

"For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 14:7-8)

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

But don’t think you have to somehow just give God a little more love then your idolatrous habits.  God doesn’t want a little more of your love.  He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)  If anything in your life takes a fraction of your love away from God, even the size of a mustard seed, it is an idol. 

That’s not to say you can’t love other things, but if you do not love those things through the lens of God’s love, it’s idolatry.  Does God love television?  Does God love what you’re watching on television?  Does God love football? Does God love shopping?  Does God love your family? If you think the answer is a “yes”, the next question is “how does God love those things?”  That’s how you should love them.  Anything else is idolatry.

Why do you think Jesus talks about vomiting lukewarm Christians out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16?

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:14)

Were Jesus' Prayers Answered: Unity

Part 1 of a 5 part series

In John 17, Jesus prays over the disciples, and in verse 17:20 He makes it clear that the things He is praying not for them alone, but for all those that come after them who believe in Jesus, in other words us.

As I read this passage, I began to notice that the things Jesus prayed don’t seem to be so.  Is it possible that Jesus’ prayers weren’t answered? He is the Son of God.  If His prayers weren’t answered, then how can we have any hope?  They must have been answered, but how? 

Here’s an example:

That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:21-23)

I don’t know about you, but in the past 2,000 years, I haven’t seen much unity in the so-called followers of Christ.  There have been denominational splits after denominational splits after denominational splits, and they started almost immediately.  Paul talks about these issues in the first chapter of first Corinthians:

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them [which are of the house] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10-14)

Why all the divisions? 

The answer is pretty easy actually.  They’ve taken their eyes of Jesus.  A.W. Tozer puts it this way:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same [tuning] fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

~ A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (1948), p. 97

And if they’ve taken their eyes off Jesus, I don’t believe they aren’t part of the group Jesus is praying for here. He is not praying for Catholics, Orthodox, or Protestants.  He is not praying for Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Non-Denominationalists, or any of the other hundreds of denominations out there.  

He is praying for those who believe in and follow Jesus.  They may have come to that belief through a denomination, but their denomination doesn’t define them.  They don’t say, “I’m a Baptist”, “I’m a Catholic”, “I’m a Lutheran,” etc.  They say, “I love Jesus!” 

In my experience if you take a bunch of Jesus lovers from all the different denominations and gather them together what you get isn’t discordant arguments about doctrine and dogma, what you get is unified worship of the only One worthy of worship, God Almighty! I’ve seen it many, many times. 

Yes, Jesus’ prayers for unity were answered, but those prayers only apply to those who have believed on Jesus and not an organization of men.  You won’t see a Baptist in heaven, and you won’t see a Catholic in heaven, nor a Presbyterian, nor a Methodist, nor an Orthodox believer. 

There is only one way to the Father and His name is Jesus. And the only people you will see in heaven are those who chose to follow Him, and they will be unified in their worship of God in the next age just as they were in this one.

Next in the series: Protection

Why are Christians so Power Hungry?

There are a few different types of power hungry Christians that I’ve met over the years.  There are the Dominion groups, both conservative and charismatic, who want to take over the world for Christ the king, either politically, socially, or spiritually.  There are the signs and wonders groups that want to call down fire from heaven anytime they should so desire.  There are the legalists who like to rule over their followers through condemnation.  And there are the traditionalists and denominationalists that set up hierarchies of power to maintain proper distance between individuals and God.

The thing is all of these groups have taken elements that Jesus taught and built man-made traditions around them.   But the kind of power a Christian should seek can never be found in man-made traditions. 

Jesus once told the disciples, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." (Luke 10:19-20)

Jesus also said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

If you want to know power, seek to know God.  He doesn’t need your help to bring His kingdom to earth, He doesn’t need your help to perform signs and wonders, He doesn’t need your help to convict sinners, and He doesn’t need your help as mediators when dealing with people. 

But when you know Him, when you speak to Him and He speaks back, when you submit to Him and obey His commandments, when you love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, He will endow you with power from on high to accomplish His will on Earth, which might include all those things mentioned above.

The point is don’t start out thinking you know what’s best when it comes to wielding God’s power.  You are not a superhero out to save the day.  Don’t pray, “God give me the ability to do ‘x, y, or z’.” Rather, seek God’s face because He’s God.  Get to know the One who gives and takes away.  Pray, “God I want to do whatever you want me to do today.  I’m totally submitted to You because I love You.” Serve Him in your weakest moments just as lovingly and confidently as in the moments where it seems like all of heaven is at your beck and call, not because of anything He can do for you, but because of Who He Is:

The I Am, The Beginning and the End, the Creator, the Almighty One, Savior, Deliverer, Provider, Healer, the Jealous One, Merciful and Just, Father, Bridegroom, Brother, Friend . . . Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come!

Let’s Get Real: Bringing Authenticity and Wholeness to Your Marriage

As individuals we need God in our lives, so it only stands to reason that we need God in our marriages.  Dale and Jena Forehand’s book: Let’s Get Real focuses on putting Christ first in your marriage in order to have authenticity and wholeness.  The book starts out with the story of their marriage, which ended in a broken home and divorce.  When they turned to Christ, they reconciled and remarried.  Their son came into their room and said, “Since you two are getting back to together, I would like to get together with God” (p 18).

The book basically tells about the lessons they’ve learned so that others might be spared the pain they experienced.

I love that the Forehands attribute all their success in marriage to God and base all their advice on relationship with Christ and bringing God glory.  I’ve read a few Christian marriage books, and the only other two I’ve read so far that do this are Love and Respect and Sacred Marriage, which ask the question “what if God made marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

All that said, I recommend Let’s Get Real with some reservation.  While the principles are sound, much of the book is missing.  At the end of every chapter is a “listening section” with fill in the blank questions based on the accompanying DVD.  Unfortunately the book and the DVD are sold separately—an inconvenient marketing ploy for someone buying this book because their marriage is in trouble and their life is falling apart.

Buy the Book: $7.99
Buy the DVD: $22.49

A review copy of the book was received from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

How Do You Forgive?

Forgiveness plays a big part in our Christian walk.  Jesus says, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:14-15)  In fact it’s such an integral part of His message for us, He says it in Matthew 6:12, 18:21, 18:35, Mark 11:25, Luke 11:4, 6:37, and John 17:3.  And these don’t even count the implied verses or when the apostles reiterate forgiveness in their epistles. 

So what does forgiveness mean in realistic everyday terms? 

I could go into a long study about the Greek word and how it means to leave behind, let go, give up a debt, which brings to mind the parable of the man who owed ten thousand talents in Matthew 18:24.  But I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.

In fact you’ve probably heard sermons about how you don’t forgive people because they deserve it, but because it will release you from bitterness.  Or maybe you’ve heard sermons about how God says, “vengeance is mine” (Romans 12:19), so just forgive them and God will get them in the end.  And these things are kind of true, but do they really reflect what forgiveness is?  Is forgiveness really all about you?  Is it really all about hoping that other person will get they’re just desserts in the end? Can you really say you've forgiven someone with these motivations behind your forgiveness?

What does real, Biblical forgiveness look like? 

When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?” (Luke 23:34)  This wasn’t a “release me from bitterness” prayer or a “you get them in the end, God” prayer.  Jesus asked that God would not take vengeance on those who crucified Him.  He asked that God would forgive them.

A short time later in Acts chapter two, Peter preaches to a crowd full of men who had crucified the Lord.  He specifically says to them: “this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)  And three thousand of these men who Jesus prayed that God would forgive were forgiven. (Acts 2:41)

In Acts 7:60, we can see this same thing happen again when Stephen prays that God won’t hold his murder against his murderers.  In Acts 9, Paul who held the coats at Stephen’s stoning is saved.

When you forgive somebody, pray that God will forgive too. This is Godly forgiveness.  Truly, in the same way you forgive, you will be forgiven.

What is Sin?

Have you ever asked this question?  If you have, you’ve probably gotten a lot of cryptic responses like “sin is ‘missing the mark’”, “sin is disobeying God”, “sin is all the bad things we do”, etc.  

While these answers are not wrong, I never felt like they adequately explained it.  So, I set out to find a solid answer for the question of what sin is. What’s the mark we’re missing?  What’s God want us to do that we’re not? How do we know what bad things are?

I somewhat foolishly started in Romans, where Paul complicates the matter even more with phrases like “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."  (Romans 7:7) 

So, is sin breaking the Old Testament Law?  Jewish leaders spend years going over the Law and still can’t completely agree on everything in it and how it applies today.  And then there’s the whole “I do what I do not want to do, hoo do, di di do” tongue twister Paul lays out at the end of that chapter.  Yikes!

Bedraggled by the torrent of rhetoric that is Romans, I walked away even more bogged down by the question of sin.

Finally acknowledging that I couldn’t grasp it on my own, I prayed for help.  As I prayed, I looked up and saw the picture hanging above our front door.  It’s just a piece of paper we printed on our home computer with a couple of verses on it:

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18)

On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40)

And it clicked.  If the law points out what sin is, and all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments, then sin at its base is not following these two commandments.

Sin is not loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  Sin is not loving your neighbor as yourself.  So simple: no one answers questions quite like Jesus does.

Ronnie Wilson's Gift

At nearly two, our son is starting to enjoy cuddling up to a good book read by his mother or me.  We have quite a collection of books that was given to us by his generous grandmother, including great titles from Dr. Seuss and Arnold Lobel.  There are good lessons in these for children.   There were a few Christian titles, but we still wanted to expand our boy’s choices of Christian children’s literature to fuel a hunger after God early in life.

As part of that quest, we came across the book, Ronnie Wilson’s Gift by Francis Chan.  The book tells the story of little Ronnie Wilson.  One day in Sunday School, Ronnie learns that Jesus gave him the ultimate gift through His death and resurrection.  Ronnie is so thankful that he wants to give Jesus a gift in return, but it’s hard to get your favorite baseball glove to heaven.  During his attempts to send Jesus his gift, Ronnie takes the time to help some people in need. 

At the end of the book, Jesus appears to Ronnie in a dream and tells him that all those things he did to help others was like doing them for Jesus, so Ronnie gives his baseball glove to a boy in need of one.

My wife and I cry every time we read it to our son.  Not because the story is particularly moving but because Jesus is particularly moving.  That He would empathize so much with those in need that He makes charity given to them equivalent to charity given to Him, our King, is mind-boggling!  No wonder we’ll sing of His love and His mercies forever.

If you’re looking for a gift for a child in your life, I whole-heartedly recommend Ronnie Wilson’s Gift.

• Buy It Now only  $10.39
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Resistance

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

"Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don't do it.

If you don't do it . . . [y]ou shame the angels who watch over you, and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God

Don't cheat us of your contribution.

Give us what you've got!" (Steven Pressfield)

"We've all been there.

Everyone who has a pulse has experienced resistance, and it usually comes in the form of procrastination.

[But] resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates the strength of the Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.

If you feel any degree of fear or anxiety about acting on the desire God has put in your soul--then you must do it.

Live the desires of your heart.

God has put you here to do certain good for Him--you, and only you. Not your parents, not your friends, not your pastors--you.

Fight resistance.

Find resolve." (Palmer Chinchen)

May we all do what we were created to do and bring glory and honor to our Creator.