I encourage you to pursue genuine love that forgives

Worldly wisdom doesn’t allow for the love of Jesus Christ which forgives. No revenge, no desire for personal justice, and no festering resentment, that’s God’s way. In Christ, you can put grudges to death for the sake of Jesus renown. The child of God turns “to forgive and comfort” because they don’t want the guilty person to “be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow”. Rather, Christians want “to reaffirm love” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8) in order to aid the guilty person in repentance and reconciliation.

The sad scenario of self-vindicating unforgiveness

It started with you perceiving an offense, whether intentional or not, you experienced pain. A sense of indignation rose to the highest emotional level, then self-defence kicked in and self-vindication began. You began interpreting the original offense as a personal attack. So, the heart began recording all the damming evidence against the offender.

Throughout the growing offense, personal innocence is assured by self and sin, as responsibility is not accepted for any wrong responses. Your vengeful motives, hurtful speech, and malicious actions, are all overlooked. Sin assures you that you are justified in your wrong behaviour by declaring you innocent. Then, sin informs you that slandering the other person is OK. You see, sin has it all figured out. Any amount of damage caused to as many people as necessary is justified in the relentless pursuit of self-vindication, and self-promotion.

What may have begun as an innocent and unintentional happening turns into full-blown war. Sin swears it’s allegiance to your cause. It will faithfully see you through to utter ruin and self-destruction in the name of self-vindication. Sin evaluates and concludes your personal innocence while calling divine judgment upon your offender. Any others who will not take your side must like-wise suffer your justice. Indeed, sin is the faithful companion of unforgiveness – till death do you part.

The beauty that forgives

However, forgiveness releases the offender from personal liability and any debt requiring repayment or correction. Forgiveness halts feelings of resentment, animosity and anger toward the offender. Forgiveness sets them free, while setting you at calm toward them (This also applies when legal justice, restitution, or safety issues need to be worked through).

As love is the founder of forgiveness, so unforgiveness proves the absence of love. In fact, hatred is at the heart of unforgiveness, even robbing you of the desire to be forgiven. But not so with the child of God who forgives!

The supremacy of love that forgives

Scripture tells us that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Therefore, Holy Spirit generated love reflects God’s loving nature instead of the world’s idea of love. God’s love behaves differently, it “does not insist on its own way” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Because love rejects the harbouring of unforgiveness, acknowledging it as sinful, and dishonouring to the Lord.

Make no mistake; forgiving costs, it can hurt! As the humble road is taken, as personal preferences are denied, and as the negative whispers of others are ignored, self loses. However, this is the only path sanctification knows. This is the Christ exalting road transforming us “from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Today, let the world see the Christ who forgives in you; “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44-45). Be like Jesus Christ, who, “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten” (1 Peter 2:23).

Continuing next week… 

 

I encourage you to live in forgiveness for Jesus sake

Forgiveness has to be worked through by everybody at some point, and often with monotonous regularity. Unfortunately, the human heart deceitfully works against us by naturally wanting to hold onto the pains of offense. The reality is that forgiveness, or the lack of it, affects every relationship in life and determines their quality. Its presence, or absence, can dramatically alter both physical and emotional health, with life changing consequences.

However, Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness cuts against every human inclination, and surpasses human reasoning. The two sides of this critical part of Christian living are a willingness to forgive, and a desire to be forgiven, with the source of both being self-sacrificing love (Agape).

First and foremost; spiritually speaking, heart regeneration is required in order to equip us for genuine and long lasting power to forgive, while also wanting to be forgiven.

Love and forgiveness are synonymous, as are their counterparts. The apostle Paul reminds us; “if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:13). The apostles’ point is simple; a believer in Jesus Christ, having personally experienced the Lord’s eternal forgiveness through the Cross of Calvary, will forgive others when offended. Why, because, above all other virtues, genuine believers “put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14).

Love puts others first. Love never wishes the pain that it has suffered to be experienced by others. Love is ready to forgive, ready to seek reconciliation, ready to restore peace and unity. Love is also strong enough to dispense forgiveness while working through any required matters of justice or restitution. Therefore forgiveness, like love, is never conditional, especially while its application is being worked through.

Genuine, self-sacrificing love refuses to pick up the reproaches of others. As Paul put into practice with the Corinthian Christians; “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:10). This is precisely what Paul promoted when writing to Philemon regarding the run-away slave Onesimus; “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account” (Philemon 1:18).

You see, Christian love relinquishes all rights to hold onto offense or to seek retaliation. The genuine love of Christ in a believer duplicates Christ; “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). Christ living in a Christian never lashes out or builds us ammunition in preparation for an attack. The child of God knows that “God, through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Christians reconcile, they do not go to war! They love through forgiveness, even if at their own expense, as it was for Christ.

The bottom line is this; the lover of Christ prioritises, and surrenders to the supremacy of God’s love as the apostle Paul reminds us. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

To be continued…

I encourage you NOT to confuse religion with salvation

While religion may give you the sensation of doing the right thing for God, it is in fact empty of any valve to God! It’s true that the good works of religion may puff up our spiritual ego and sense of self-righteousness, but those very works will abandon us at the grave as dead enemies of God, with rejection from heaven being certain.

Jesus told Nicodemus, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Nicodemus was possibly the highest ranking religious leader in Israel, yet he was spiritually dead, without God, and without the certain hope of eternal life. Nicodemus needed to change his thinking! Salvation, eternal life, could not be earned! Rather, it’s a one-time spiritual work of regeneration, rebirth, done totally by the Holy Spirit of God within a repentant sinner.

The apostle John records the deceitfulness of man focused religion; “Many even of the authorities believed in him (Jesus), but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:42-43). Even today, many love the feelings of appearing religious, more than they love Christ as Lord – this is FRAUD FAITH.

Referring to man-made acts of religious duty, the apostle Paul points out that; “these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh [sin]” (Colossians 2:23). Religious attendance is powerless against all types of sin, and indeed is not concerned when its followers live a life of double standards and hypocrisy. The fact is, religion cannot motivate us to hate sin, but will accommodate it, happily incorporating our sins into its acceptable yet incorrect religious beliefs.

In Romans 3:21-25, the apostle Paul explains that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and that God’s righteousness is acquired “through faith in Jesus Christ.” You see, sinners are “justified by his grace as a gift.” Forgiveness cannot be religiously earned or purchased by sinful people. So, “God put forward” His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the sinless sacrifice. He died in our place, carrying our sin, receiving God’s wrath instead of us.

God, having emptied His wrath against our sin on His Son, is now at peace, appeased by the blood sacrifice of His Son on the cross. However, the benefit of eternal forgiveness for all mortal sins which is available through Christ’s death, must personally “be received by faith” as applying to each of us as individuals. This excludes all dependency upon family traditions, church denominations, church leaders, and personal works in attempt to earn God’s favour. This means acknowledging that “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), no other mediator exists.

Here’s a simple two-fold test of authenticity that religion won’t want you to answer, yet it will allow you to be honest with yourself.

• Do you look at yourself and “consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
• Is your consuming desire in life to obey Jesus as Lord? “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him”(1 John 2:4).

I encourage you NOT to confuse religion with salvation.

 

I encourage you to keep eternity in focus

Eternity is real; it’s an indisputable certainty awaiting every human, irrespective of culture or belief. Living for the pleasures of the moment certainly consumes our society with no thought given to the reality of eternity. While this world wishes eternity out of existence by removing it from its thinking, the child of God not only believes in eternity, but focuses their thinking on it.

God’s Word paints a spectacular picture of God in His native environment. ”For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15). Our God is majestic in all His ways and so incredibly supernal in His infinite attributes that we struggle to grasp His holy enormity.

However, for the believer, we look back into eternity past to see that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). There we discover God’s predetermined will for our lives, to be expressive of His holiness in our time and society.

Meaningful eternity in Purpose

Likewise, in the business of life, with all that is required of us, we should ensure that our driving motive is to “not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27). Having a healthy eternal perspective motivates us to prioritise the activities of the present as investment for the future. Jesus taught this when He instructed the disciples; “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9). Money can and should be used with and eternal evangelistic purpose for God’s glory and man’s blessing.

As those who “have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22). Our present walk of growing in the likeness of Christ has a definite destination, regardless of the difficulties we may have to live through; we are conquerors in Christ with the certain outcome of eternal life.

You see, the lover of Jesus Christ as Lord, evaluates life realising that their “light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Clarity of eternity in your vision

While the great deceiver has duped the world into thinking that the ‘here and now’ is all that exists and matters, the people of God don’t buy into it. Mankind has accepted their mortality, and ignored their spiritual and eternal souls. Sadly, disbelieving people content themselves with a meaningless ‘now’ mentality that offers zero purpose and zero security for themselves or the next generation. But not the people of God, we agree with Simon Peter, who answered Jesus “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Today, encourage others to focus on eternity as a refreshing and meaningful expression of the reality of Jesus Christ living in you.

 

I wish to encourage you to celebrate Christmas in truth

For Christians, Christmas is one of our greatest celebrations. The angel who appeared to the shepherds said it so well; “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). We praise God every Christmas because He selflessly gave without restraint; when love entered the world in the form of a baby to fulfill an intended purpose 33 years later.

About 9 months earlier an angel foretold that “She (Mary) will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Yes, Christmas is our celebration of when God stepped into human history to do what the world said would never happen. Although God didn’t do things the way the world expected, He nevertheless “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Worship in awe

The mind blowing wonder of the Christmas celebration is that this baby Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). No other baby has, or shall ever, be born with such an eternally supreme purpose.

If Jesus had come to lead a military revolt or bring political reform, He failed. If to lead religious revival or resolve racial tension, this He also failed. Or, if He came to establish a spiritual enlightenment program, or to lavish His followers with a life style of luxury, He definitely failed. No, baby Jesus came to do that which humanity could not do for themselves; to save them from the eternal consequences of the very sins they deny being guilty of.

Consider Jesus own words; “I have not come to abolish them (the Law of the Prophets) but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). ”Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (Hebrews 10:7).

Purpose fulfilled

Some 33 years after His birth, as Jesus considered the future Cross of Calvary and what that involved, He prayed; “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27).

Not surprising then, that “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

While the world wants political, social, military, and financial reform, God gives us a Saviour from sins. While the world frivolously disregards baby Jesus as a fairy-tale for children, we acknowledge and worship Him as Sovereign Saviour and Lord.