Post by Cindy on Sept 23, 2015 10:27:34 GMT -5
Often people say they are Christians. They go to church, they read their bibles and they get angry when others don't believe in Him or go against Him. At the same time however, their life often doesn't look anything at all like His. They get angry at someone who's hurt them, and hold a grudge against them, or may even at times try to get even with them. (although generally they try to do it in such a way that they can call it "consequences for the other person's sin against them, as though that makes it alright.) That is not at all what Jesus called us to live like though. Jesus called us to live a life of love and to be peacemakers. He told us we are to love everyone, not just fellow believers. He told us we are to love even those the world perceives as our enemies and that we are to love them in such a way that it shows. In other words, we are not just to say we love them and pray for them, we are to actually go out of our way to show our love for them!
Jesus called us to be radically different from the norm. How do you love someone who's mortally wounded you emotionally or even physically? Just forgiving them and praying for them is more then hard enough! But God's idea of forgiveness is even greatly different from ours. We aren't to forgive the way the world does, we're to forgive the way He does! He casts our sins as far from Him as the east is from the west and remembers our sins no more. That's what we are to do for those who sin against us, for those who hurt us. We're to put their sins behind us and not look at them or remember them anymore, just as though they never happened. Those sins are wiped out of existence as far as our thoughts are concerned, just as God does for us. That means we're to never bring up that sin to ourselves, to them, or to anyone else again, not even in our own thoughts. Impossible? Absolutely, unless you have God's help and do things His way, by taking your thoughts captive as He tells us to. (the link is to an article that explains how to do that) Peter was so dumbfounded at all this that He asked Jesus just how long they should do this for someone and suggested perhaps 7 times, meaning he was asking if a person continued to sin against you in the same way, over and over again, how often do we forgive them. Do you remember how Jesus answered? He said we're to forgive them 70 times 7, meaning we're to continue to forgive them as long as they ask! There is to be no limit, no line someone can cross where we can say, "no more". Just as God continues to forgive us over and over again for our sins.
Further, just forgiving them isn't enough. As I said before, Jesus says we're to go out of our way to show them our love. We're not to just nod and walk away when we see them in the street, thinking we're doing something special because we didn't yell at them or treat them badly like we'd probably like to. Instead we're to treat them with love, respect, kindness, and generosity. Speaking of generosity, there's to be no limit on that either. As long as we have anything at all, we're to be willing to part with it to anyone who might need it, even if it's someone the world would see as our enemy. Part of the reason for that is because we're to know that we can trust God to take care of our needs so we'll know that God will take care of us even if we give someone our last dollar.
How we behave toward others who've hurt us in anyway, is probably the greatest way to tell if we're living the way the Lord tells us to. This is what made the early Christians so different from everyone else, this and the peace they had in their hearts. They shared God's love and peace with everyone alike, even those who were out to kill them.
It isn't easy to follow Jesus and in fact it's impossible to live the way He tells us to unless we are truly saved and relying on His strength and all the spiritual blessings He gives us that enable us to do so. No human being could possibly live this way without a great deal of help from the Lord. That's why, when people do live this way, it makes such a huge impact on those around them for the Lord.
For more help see:
Forgiving & Forgetting The Lord's Way
Taking Thoughts Captive
Jesus called us to be radically different from the norm. How do you love someone who's mortally wounded you emotionally or even physically? Just forgiving them and praying for them is more then hard enough! But God's idea of forgiveness is even greatly different from ours. We aren't to forgive the way the world does, we're to forgive the way He does! He casts our sins as far from Him as the east is from the west and remembers our sins no more. That's what we are to do for those who sin against us, for those who hurt us. We're to put their sins behind us and not look at them or remember them anymore, just as though they never happened. Those sins are wiped out of existence as far as our thoughts are concerned, just as God does for us. That means we're to never bring up that sin to ourselves, to them, or to anyone else again, not even in our own thoughts. Impossible? Absolutely, unless you have God's help and do things His way, by taking your thoughts captive as He tells us to. (the link is to an article that explains how to do that) Peter was so dumbfounded at all this that He asked Jesus just how long they should do this for someone and suggested perhaps 7 times, meaning he was asking if a person continued to sin against you in the same way, over and over again, how often do we forgive them. Do you remember how Jesus answered? He said we're to forgive them 70 times 7, meaning we're to continue to forgive them as long as they ask! There is to be no limit, no line someone can cross where we can say, "no more". Just as God continues to forgive us over and over again for our sins.
Further, just forgiving them isn't enough. As I said before, Jesus says we're to go out of our way to show them our love. We're not to just nod and walk away when we see them in the street, thinking we're doing something special because we didn't yell at them or treat them badly like we'd probably like to. Instead we're to treat them with love, respect, kindness, and generosity. Speaking of generosity, there's to be no limit on that either. As long as we have anything at all, we're to be willing to part with it to anyone who might need it, even if it's someone the world would see as our enemy. Part of the reason for that is because we're to know that we can trust God to take care of our needs so we'll know that God will take care of us even if we give someone our last dollar.
How we behave toward others who've hurt us in anyway, is probably the greatest way to tell if we're living the way the Lord tells us to. This is what made the early Christians so different from everyone else, this and the peace they had in their hearts. They shared God's love and peace with everyone alike, even those who were out to kill them.
It isn't easy to follow Jesus and in fact it's impossible to live the way He tells us to unless we are truly saved and relying on His strength and all the spiritual blessings He gives us that enable us to do so. No human being could possibly live this way without a great deal of help from the Lord. That's why, when people do live this way, it makes such a huge impact on those around them for the Lord.
For more help see:
Forgiving & Forgetting The Lord's Way
Taking Thoughts Captive
!!
