Forgiveness
Usually our anger, wrath, and vindictiveness stems from our lack of understanding and perspective. It's always important to look at things from God's perspective which is THE Truth...unfortunately for us, it's usually a reality about something we don't like...such is the flesh in this fallen world, yet this is exactly why His Kingdom is what we really desire and were ultimately created for and why YHWH sent his Son as a sacrifice for us...so that we can have a place in something other then the fallen world.
The pastor at Grace gave a really good sermon about Forgiveness and what it means. Some notable things about Forgiveness are:
1. Letting go of your right for vengeance/revenge.
2. Not letting the past transgression/sin rule your life.
3. Loving that person as though you are Christ who Forgave and Loved you.
Admittedly, that last one is the hardest to do. It takes time to get to that point however when the pain is deep. We are to pray for our enemies and bless those who curse us in our prayers as we are commanded to do. And doing so regularly frees us from the chains of bitterness and hatred that Satan desires to enslave us with.
Last night I watched a Dateline episode of how a feud between neighbors which started over the repairing of a bridge leading to both driveways ended up turning into a double homicide. The guy who went to church was the guy who murdered his neighbors in cold blood. The jury gave him life in prison and justly so.
This guy lied about it and thought he was completely justified for what he did...claiming he was 'protecting' himself, yet because he couldn't let go of his hate, his mind became a slave to Satan. The guy really seemed very 'Nazi-ish' and obviously had a case of sociopathic OCD. I find myself hating that type of person with a passion and desiring to be the judge.
But it's important to not become the thing you hate and remember that we all deserve the same fate as that guy.
On another note, I've been praying quite a bit the last few days and realized something when thinking about my dad: Him being a slave to sin MUST do EVIL to someone at least once a day...and it NEVER fails.
So I was thinking, that we who are in the Spirit of Christ maybe should at least do good to someone at least once per day...and I thinking not just your regular greeting, etc, but something that actually costs us time, money, or ourselves. It'll be kind of like Earl's 'list' on that one show except it will not be about trying to vainly redeem oneself.
I think I'm actually going to give this a try and see what happens but I'm not going to beat myself up if I fail...I know I will fail but when I succeed it will be by the power and goodness of Jesus Christ. Amen~
The pastor at Grace gave a really good sermon about Forgiveness and what it means. Some notable things about Forgiveness are:
1. Letting go of your right for vengeance/revenge.
2. Not letting the past transgression/sin rule your life.
3. Loving that person as though you are Christ who Forgave and Loved you.
Admittedly, that last one is the hardest to do. It takes time to get to that point however when the pain is deep. We are to pray for our enemies and bless those who curse us in our prayers as we are commanded to do. And doing so regularly frees us from the chains of bitterness and hatred that Satan desires to enslave us with.
Last night I watched a Dateline episode of how a feud between neighbors which started over the repairing of a bridge leading to both driveways ended up turning into a double homicide. The guy who went to church was the guy who murdered his neighbors in cold blood. The jury gave him life in prison and justly so.
This guy lied about it and thought he was completely justified for what he did...claiming he was 'protecting' himself, yet because he couldn't let go of his hate, his mind became a slave to Satan. The guy really seemed very 'Nazi-ish' and obviously had a case of sociopathic OCD. I find myself hating that type of person with a passion and desiring to be the judge.
But it's important to not become the thing you hate and remember that we all deserve the same fate as that guy.
On another note, I've been praying quite a bit the last few days and realized something when thinking about my dad: Him being a slave to sin MUST do EVIL to someone at least once a day...and it NEVER fails.
So I was thinking, that we who are in the Spirit of Christ maybe should at least do good to someone at least once per day...and I thinking not just your regular greeting, etc, but something that actually costs us time, money, or ourselves. It'll be kind of like Earl's 'list' on that one show except it will not be about trying to vainly redeem oneself.
I think I'm actually going to give this a try and see what happens but I'm not going to beat myself up if I fail...I know I will fail but when I succeed it will be by the power and goodness of Jesus Christ. Amen~