Tag Archives: forgiveness

Just Like Me

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Genesis 32-35

The Bible doesn’t portray God’s people as saints. In fact, God is very honest to paint a picture of flawed, deceitful, prideful sinners. From Adam to Israel we see rebellious, foolish, and violent people who squander their relationship with God.

Why didn’t God cover up their disobedience when He inspired men to write out His history with His people? Why didn’t He rationalize their sin, give excuses for their sin? Why didn’t He make it look like people with a relationship with Him do no wrong, and always have everything they need and want? You don’t try to sell a used car by pointing out the bald tires and faulty transmission.

God didn’t sugar-coat what happened because God’s people are no different today than they were then. We are no less accountable for our choices than they were. And God is as patient and willing to forgive today as He was in the pages we read in His Word.

God lays it all out there so we can relate, we can recognize our own bent to sin, and we can trust Him to do what He’s always done – forgive repentant sinners just like Jacob…

and just like me.

Woe To Us All

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Luke 11

I know I probably comment on this every year when I get to this passage in God’s Word. But Jesus’ response to the lawyers’ hurt feelings is something we ought to emulate.

The lawyers didn’t object to Jesus hammering the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. But the truth of what Jesus was saying was hitting a bit too close to home for the lawyers. The lawyers, at least in their own minds, weren’t as bad as the Pharisees and they wanted to be sure Jesus made that distinction.

“Jesus, you’re starting to hurt our feelings with your ‘Woe to’s’ toward the Pharisees. We’re beginning to feel a bit threatened, unsafe, disrespected, misidentified.”

Jesus answers, “Oh, I’m sorry. Woe to you, lawyers…” and just so there would be no confusion Jesus began hammering them for their own sins. He didn’t coddle them, didn’t find them a safe place, or encourage them to stand strong, be proud, be who they were meant to be. “YOU ARE SINNERS,” He told them.

Do you honestly think Jesus would say to a man pretending to be a woman and upset because Jesus “misgendered” him, “Oh, I’m sorry, Ma’am. Sit here and let me do your nails?” No! He would say to that man, “YOU. ARE. NOT. A. WOMAN.”

The lawyers thought they weren’t as bad as the Pharisees. Today some men think they are women, some women think they are men, some people think they are cats. It doesn’t matter what you think!

Hear God say, “Woe to you.” And you know what? I think it’s time Christians did the same. So here goes. Sorry, not sorry.

XX will always be XX. XY will always be XY.
No one can change the binary gender God created: male OR female.
A male is a “he.” A female is a “she.: “They” is plural.
Woman are designed by God to carry a developing human in their wombs. Woman (not birthing persons) have babies. Men do not. Cannot.
Abortion is murder. Life begins at conception. God knew that person BEFORE he or she was planted in the mother’s womb. To end that life is murder.
There is objective truth.. There is right and wrong, good and bad, black and white.
There is truth, and there is opinion. They are not the same. And I will not pretend “your truth” is anything other than your opinion.

Call me what you want. Call me bigoted, hateful, intolerant, deplorable. I don’t care. Show me in the Bible where I’m wrong. Woe to all of us who deny what God has revealed in His Word.

Now, before you think I’m condemning anyone to hell, let me remind you what else God’s Word has to say.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Jesus died on the cross to buy your freedom from sin and mine, to break the chains of sin, to forgive us for our sins, to make us the righteousness of God. There isn’t anyone reading this post who cannot be saved. Show me in the Bible where I’m wrong.

What I’ve said here is not hate. In fact, I can honestly say I love you enough to be truthful with you. Jesus loved those lawyers enough to confront their sin. It would be hateful to go along with anyone’s sin, because sin separates us from God now, and in eternity. My friend, my heart’s desire is that you experience the Truth of God’s Word today; whether for the first time, or with a revived energy for proclaiming the Truth. Woe to us if we don’t.

Truly Free

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Malachi

There is so much in this wonderful book. But if we take only one thing away from it, we’ve got to understand God will be honored, respected, obeyed, and worshiped alone. He’s not fooled by good works or fancy words. He recognizes the pure and the contaminated. He will not accept anything less than what He demands – no exceptions.

That fact should cause us to fear Him. It’s His way or hell.

But He is not a tyrant. He’s not a slave-driver. He is love. He is just. He is a friend and a father. What we seem to have trouble grasping is that His way is what is best for us. It’s better than anything we can come up with on our own. Your best plans, your most favorite dreams, are nothing compared to what God offers.

It’s like a prisoner chained to a wall saying, “I don’t want freedom on God’s terms. I’d have to give up my chains. I’d have to move out of my cozy cell. I’d rather paint a picture of the sky on my wall than step out and see it for myself. I’d rather hug a mannequin than be embraced by God.”

You’d think that prisoner has lost his mind. Especially since you’ve seen the sky and know how beautiful it is.

Well, my friend. I have seen the sky. I have been embraced by God through the blood of His Son, Jesus. I am free from the chains of sin because I have repented of those sins, and I am forgiven. Why wouldn’t I want that for you, too?

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will lead them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. (Malachi 4:1-2)

That’s what God, through the prophet Malachi, wants us to take away from his book. There are only two sides to this coin called life. Choose wisely. There is only one way to be truly free.

HIs name is Jesus.

You’ve Got My Attention

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Ezekiel 22

God compares His children to a whore. I know, not a gentle comparison, is it? His wording is graphic and coarse. What He describes is disgusting and crude. It’s hard to imagine these words coming out of the mouth of God.

As shocking as this portion of Scripture is, I have to ask myself why? Why would God be so explicit as He expresses His disgust with the behavior of His children as they adopt the worship of their neighbors’ gods?

Well, for one, He certainly got my attention. And two, I don’t have to guess at what God thinks about my own inclination to put someone or something ahead of Him in my love and adoration. I don’t have to guess what God thinks about my own disobedience. And I don’t have to guess where my rejection of Him is heading.

So today I hear you, Lord. Forgive my whoring. Cleanse me. I don’t want to disgust you, or hurt you. Thank you for grace. Thank you for the cross. I pray that neither Oholah nor Oholibah will describe me ever again.

You’ve got my attention.

Prepare To Meet Your Holy God

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Leviticus 10-12

I wonder if we would take worship more seriously if the sacrificial system was still required of us. I wonder if the fact that God is so accessible to His children today has made Him less holy in our minds.

The book of Leviticus is a detailed look at God’s requirements for worship. The Jews were required to pay careful attention as they not only worshiped God, but as they prepared for worship. The priests had very specific instructions for the fulfillment of their duties.

I wonder if we really understand what it means that Jesus fulfilled every detail of those requirements. He didn’t simply erase the necessity of them.

These days so much attention is focused on how worship looks, how it makes us feel. We are encouraged to have fun, to get something out of worship. Clap your hands! Smile! Come on, show some enthusiasm! Give God a hand!

But I am reminded how often demonstrations of worship made God angry, made Him want to vomit. Enthusiastic worship cost Uzzah his life as we read in 2 Samuel 6. Later, when David followed God’s instructions, the same demonstration of enthusiasm was accepted by God. The difference was obedience.

Here in Leviticus we read that Nadab and Abihu lost their lives trying to worship God on their own terms. We can demonstrate fire of the Holy Spirit without truly having the Holy Spirit. And that is a serious offense against God.

Worship has to be a connection between us and Holy God. My Life Application Study Bible has this to say:

“Similarly, we need to be prepared for worship. We cannot live any way we want during the week and then rush into God’s presence on Sunday. We should prepare ourselves through repentance, correction of error where possible, and thoughtful anticipation of what it will mean to be in God’s presence with other believers.” (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; Carol Stream, Illinois; 2007; p 210)

You can worship God with your head bowed, or your hands raised. And you can offend God with your head bowed, or your hands raised. The difference between worship God accepts and rejects is obedience. I guess I would encourage us to stop judging what someone’s worship looks like. You can’t judge someone’s heart, and that’s where worship happens.

So the next time you are privileged to join together for worship with other believers in God’s house – be prepared. The importance of that is a theme in Scripture. Prepare to meet your God with sins confessed and hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Prepare to meet your Holy God in worship.

Open Arms

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Genesis 42-45

I love this part of Joseph’s story. He is finally reunited with his brothers. It’s a beautiful reunion. But it could have ended quite differently.

Joseph was looking at the ten men who had wanted him dead, who had thrown him into a pit then sat down to dinner like it was the most normal thing in the world. They sold their brother to evil men, probably hoping Joseph would die at their hands instead of the brothers’. It a heartless betrayal.

Yet when Joseph meets them after thirteen years a slave, he embraces his brothers. There is no mention of the sins they had committed against him. He eventually welcomed them with open arms.

Most of us wouldn’t have blamed him if he had acquired ten slaves that day. Tit for tat. An eye for an eye. Karma, baby! That’s not what happened. And some people scratch their heads and wonder why.

The answer is in the life Joseph had lived those thirteen years in captivity. He walked with God. He trusted God, depended on God, submitted to the will of God. You can’t hold a grudge if you’re holding onto God.

Which got me thinking about the term, “open arms.” When you stretch out your arms to someone you leave your heart unprotected. It’s a gesture of openness, acceptance, trust. vulnerability. You take a chance when you open your arms to someone who has wronged you.

But isn’t that what Jesus did? The ultimate open arms occurred when they stretched His arms out and nailed Him to the cross. Talk about vulnerable! And He opened Himself up like that for those of us who betrayed Him, disrespected Him, hurt Him.

He did that for you.

We know that Joseph is a type of Christ, a picture of who Jesus is. I think it’s a beautiful picture.

What I see in these chapters I read today is an example of how I want my walk with the Lord to look. No grudges. No revenge-seeking. No holding onto hurt or painful memories.

Is there someone who needs your open arms today?

Rash Decisions

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Genesis 12-16

Have you ever reacted in the moment, then lived to regret it? I sure have. And so too, I think, did Abram. More than once.

First, when famine hit Canaan, Abram packed up and moved to Egypt. I don’t see him consulting God about that. It appears to be a blatant act of disobedience. But, the grass is greener on the other side of the Nile.

Entering Egypt placed him and his family smack dab in the middle of enemy territory. Abram wasn’t ready for that. Which leads us to rash decision #2.

Abram told his beautiful wife, Sarai, to lie to the King of Egypt. Dangerous move, there, Abe. Again, I don’t see Abram calling on God about the situation. Maybe, like Adam, Abram thought he could hide from God. Maybe he knew he shouldn’t be in Egypt in the first place and thought he’d gotten himself into this mess, he’d get himself out. (been there, done that myself a few times).

Both of these decisions indicate Abram’s lack of faith in God. Hold onto that thought. Because bad choice #3 tells the same tale.

God had promised Abram children. Lots of children. But at this point, Abram hadn’t fathered even one. So when Sarai came up with an idea, Abram went with it. Do you see either of them going to God first? I mean, God was the one who had made the promise. Maybe He would have had a better idea than having Abram sleep with a slave girl. Just saying.

Anyway, Abram went ahead without God, and the world has been paying for it ever since.

Have you found that reacting in the moment turns out to smack you in the face? That has been my experience more often than I care to admit. I would venture to say every life choice I’ve made without including God has ended badly. Some of those choices have minor consequences. Some of those choices have resulted in consequences I still experience decades later. Some choices effected only me. Other choices have caused others to experience pain.

But all is not lost. With all the mistakes Abram made, look at 15:6. And he believed the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

When we believe the Lord, when we obey Him, when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Which makes us righteous, too, just like Abram! Aren’t you glad God doesn’t write us off when we make those rash decisions? I am. There may be consequences, but there is forgiveness when we ask Him.

In Good News Club this week I was talking to the children about peer pressure. When faced with a hard decision, I encouraged the kids to think first. Is what they are considering right or wrong? If they do that thing, would it please God? That advice isn’t just for kids.

May we all think before we react in the moment. May we ask ourselves if our reaction is right or wrong according to God’s Word. And, maybe most importantly, would my reaction please God?

I think if Abram had thought about what he was doing, if He had prayed first, the world might look a bit differently today. If I had done the same, thought, prayed first, my life might look differently today, too.

I’m thankful for the life of Abram, a flawed individual who loved God, and whom God used in spite of his failures. I’m thankful for the cross, for forgiveness, and for prayer to a God who wants to help me make the right choices, ones that will be the best for me, and will glorify Him.

Equal Shares

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Ezekiel 47-48

The land was divided equally among the tribes of Israel. I love how God leveled the playing field. Everyone was given the same.

That’s something I love about God. He sees us, demands of us, treats us, and loves each of the same.

  1. All have sinned. Yes, that means you and me. All. Everyone has sinned. (Romans 3:23)
  2. That sin has earned us a death sentence. (Romans 6:23)
  3. God loved each of us and sent His Son Jesus to pay our death sentence. (John 3:16)
  4. Whoever (rich, poor, young, old, healthy, sickly, black, white, a murderer, a liar, me, you) believes won’t have to experience that death, but live forever with God. (John 3:16)
  5. When we repent, He forgives us completely. (1 John 1:9)
  6. When we repent, we are no longer slaves to sin. (Romans 6:1-7)

The flip side of that coin is also fair and equal. If you reject God, He will reject you (Matthew 10:33) no matter if you are rich, poor, young, old, healthy, sick, black, white, a murderer, a liar, me, or you.

A word of caution: accepting God on your terms is rejecting Him. Jesus said that He is the only way to God. (John 14:6) That is true for all of us.

It rains on the just and the unjust. The sun shines on everyone everywhere, night falls, morning dawns, and we all have 24 hours a day to choose God or reject Him.

I think you know how I am praying for you today.

At Home

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Ezekiel 40-46

Reading about the Temple courtyard, the thick walls, the gates, and the little rooms surrounding the Sanctuary, I thought I’d like to have lived there had I been alive at the time. To walk out of my door that overlooked the place where God lived on Earth would have been awesome! I honestly had an “at home,” cozy feeling as I read Ezekiel’s vision this morning.

But then I remembered my heart is where God lives on Earth today. My! Heart! And I am overwhelmed with the same “at home,” and cozy feeling I had while reading.

Oh, the privilege of living in the actual presence of God! What comfort, strength, peace, and love envelope me! I don’t have to walk outside my door, or look toward a building to experience God’s Presence. I don’t have to wait for a priest to enter the Holy of Holies. I live there!

Yet I am reminded that not everyone can say the same. Only we who have humbled ourselves before our Holy God, recognized our sin and repented of them, accepted God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy through the blood of Jesus, can experience the Presence of God.

Christ in me, my hope for today and eternity.

Be at home in me today, Lord. Fill this temple called Connie with Your Presence. And may others recognize that this is where God lives on Earth! Then my prayer is that they will want You in their lives, too.

Let Your light shine through me today and point others to Your saving grace. For Jesus’ sake, and for Your glory!

Stepping Between God and the People

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Psalms 105-106

These psalms recount the Exodus of the Jewish nation out of Egypt in the days of Moses, and reminds us how God moved in dramatic fashion on behalf of His obedient children. I think one amazing thing about Scripture, however, is how often we are also reminded how God moves when His children aren’t so obedient, like in these two psalms. God doesn’t sugar-coat anything. I’m thankful for that.

What stood out to me today was in 106:23,30. The Jews were living in blatant disobedience, even after God had blessed them. So God declared He would destroy them. Their disobedience made Him that angry.

But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged God to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

So God did not destroy them.

Later, as punishment for yet more disobedience, a plague broke out among the Jews.

But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped. So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time.

This morning I am reminded that Jesus has done the same for me. My disobedience angers God as much as the disobedience of the Old Testament Jews angered Him. What makes me think He hasn’t considered taking me out, too?

But I have a Savior. When I sin and make God angry, Jesus steps between the Lord and me and pleads my case. One day when I stand before the Throne of Heaven, Jesus will intervene for the last time, and I will not be destroyed. He will usher me into Paradise unlike anything I have ever known in this lifetime.

Here is something else that occurs to me. While I am still on this earth, I have the privilege of being a Moses or a Phinehas, one who intervenes for my loved ones, our nation and the whole world, and for you. I can beg God like Moses did, that He would turn from His righteous anger, and give each of us another chance to obey Him.

So today I want you to know that I am praying for you. I am going to step between the Lord and you and beg Him to have mercy. Will you do the same for me?