Grace to Move Forward

"How shalt thee hope for mercy, rendering none?"

                                                                                 ~ Shakespeare, 'Merchant of Venice'

A few months ago, I was thrown under the bus - to put it mildly.
By a handful of people.
It stunk.
And it hurt.

I have not spoken negatively about the incident in a manner to attack people or even a Church Body; not publicly and not intentionally privately - although the same cannot be said for the bus throwers.

The details don't really matter; for, when injustice happens and a betrayal is felt, all that really matters isn't what happens but rather how we shall respond.

In life, I have learned, especially since having cancer, things may happen to us that are uncontrollable, but we are mostly judged by our reaction to those negative things or sinful actions of others toward us.

As Thanksgiving has come and gone, I noticed two major changes in my attitude and outlook this year.
Number One - I was not rushing to get somewhere or to get back; I have no church for which I am responsible so there was nothing pushing me.
Number Two - Because of number one, I actually relaxed and enjoyed myself for the first time in many, many years.

[Which now begs the question, 'Since I had such a good weekend, shouldn't I actually be thanking the bus throwers for doing me a favor and ensuring the awesome job I now have once I go back to work on Monday?  
Not sure...but I digress.]

In retrospect, I realized early on in this new journey that forgiveness would be hard; it would also prove if I could really live out what I had been preaching for years.
All the truths from God I had spoken of faith, mercy, trust and grace - all of them were coming to a head in my life. Either the world was going to see that I believed them and truly trusted the Lord or my faith would be seen as being built on sinking sand.
I have seen both of these in my life in others; the second is devastating to watch because it

Universal Symbol of Friendship

destroys a once strong witness.

On this journey, I lost several people whom I considered friends; but I also gained a new respect for those who are truly my friends, inside the ministry and on the pew.
Truthfully, I miss those whom were once my friends; that is not to take away from those who are standing with me, but it is to remark of mourning period in lost relationships.

On this journey, I also found that I absolutely had to forgive and move on; I had seen too many in church life hang on to hate and bitterness for years, so much so that it destroyed inward believer and left behind only an outward image of a once pious follower of the Lord.

Grace, I have found, is unfair; that is why it is hard to forgive.
But Grace is not about fairness, grace is about mercy; this is true in families, in churches and among the nations.

In the Middle East today, some of the residents do not even know why they are fighting.
But the same could be said of the Hatfields and McCoys to some extent. 

Devil Anse Hatfield

Randall McCoy

And though you and I have heard literally hundreds of sermons on forgiveness and grace, we do not forgive as easily as we say we can.
Nor are we easily forgiven - but that too, is to be expected.





When reading Scripture, the Psalms are full of cries for vindication.
Psalms 144:1
 1 Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:


Or take this stellar verse....
Psalms 137:8-9

8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,
How blessed will be the one who repays you
With the recompense with which you have repaid us. 9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock.

I'm not exactly certain, but I don't think I have ever heard a Sunday School lesson on either of those passages; although I have seen the spirit of both come to the front during a church business meeting.

And while these passages reveal certain things within the Divine Scripture, in the center of the Lord's Prayer - there is simply forgiveness.
For the first time in salvific history, our forgiveness from God is linked with our giving forgiveness to others.
If you read the Scripture rightly, you will see that forgiveness actually takes precedence over other religious duties, such as tithing.

When Jesus instructed that we, as His children, forgive our enemies, it was a bold statement the religious Jew had never even considered.
It teaches us that Christians will have enemies, but also that the grace which is given to us is to extend beyond the Cross, into our hearts, through us and to other people in our lives which are just as undeserving of grace as we once were.

But let me say this, rarely is forgiveness completely satisfying.
There remains an element within us which seeks revenge, which seeks to right the wrong done to us; so, when we readily forgive, it seems that there is something left undone in our lives.
Yet, when Jesus went to the Cross, His disciples felt that there was something missing, something undone; and there was - it was the Cross itself, it was God's forgiveness.
On Calvary, forgiveness was accomplished and today, we stand as their heirs of grace for the world.
Grace and Forgiveness may be unsatisfying in this world; but there is more to life than this world.

One must then ask, 'Well, why then are we to forgive?'
The answer is as amazing as it is simple; we are to forgive because that is what God is like.

In all reality, forgiveness is about doing for others what they can't do for themselves.
For, at the center of all of Christ's parables stands God, who takes the initiative toward us to forgive us and restore us to His fellowship.
As Paul so rightly taught, the Law of Sin and Retribution has ended and gone the way of the Canaanites; we live in a time ruled by the Laws of Forgiveness and Grace.

It is the Christian who should make the first move in forgiveness; especially when we are the ones who are wronged.
But do you know why?

By forgiving, you and I release our right to get even; we leave all issues of fairness and justice and vengeance for God to work out.
If nations did this, there would be no war; if we do this in our lives, there will be no wars in our relationships because God will settle them all.

And God balances fairness and justice very well; for that is what He did through Christ on the Cross.
It is through that one act of obedience where He destroyed all acts of disobedience, not by judging the offender, but by judging His Son and forgiving the offender in grace.
And that is exactly the Lord's Work we are to emulate in our lives.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Abolishing the Irreversible

"Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future."

                                                                                                        ~ Robert Schuller


Sometimes the very things and people we love the most, hurt us the worst.
When that happens, showing love, compassion and mercy does not come easily.
And being Christ-like is nearly a whimsical, passing thought.

Amazingly, Jesus' most powerful message of love and grace was His love for the people who betrayed Him; whether it was a disciple or Jerusalem, Jesus loved them both dearly.

Garden of Gethsemane

Judas was not the first follower of Jesus to betray Him, nor is he the last; He is simply the most famous.
When he led the mob to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus called to him as 'friend.'
And though each of the disciples deserted Him just moments afterward, He still loved each of them.
On the Cross, though Jerusalem mocked Him, to God He prayed that His Father in Heaven would forgive them.

Most miss the fact that Jesus was re-fighting a famous battle; it was Satan's temptation from the Garden - to be obedient to self and not to God.
Jesus obliterated Adam's defiance on the Cross; yet, we should be keenly mindful that the Cross did not become common in art or jewelry for Christians until all who had seen a Crucifixion had died off.

Christianity is a religion, a faith, a way of self-sacrifice; it is a life of constantly dying to self so that the Christian may be made alive to God.
Some have compared a Cross to the execution methods of today; but an electric, gas chamber, or a firing squad cannot match the means of death which the Cross provided.
They are not nearly horrific enough.

In life and in the Church, I have learned that those who gain power or are in power or accumulate power - it is these who tend to cause suffering on others, no matter how well-intentioned their actions may be.
I have also learned that love and grace absorbs suffering for the sake of others.
That is, by His nature, the very message of Christ on the Cross - the absorbtion of death that we might live.

Have you ever wondered about the promise of the Cross and of Christ in His resurrection?
What if tomorrow you could walk outside and your spouse, parent, child or dear friend you lost to death - suddenly was walking up to your front door?
What if you would be the witness to their raising?

I'll tell you what that would mean - it would be the ultimate reversibility of the ages.

Often at the gravesides of many funerals I have heard ministers say something similar to this: 'We have come as far as we can with our friend in this world...'
And the statement is true.
But the finality of death is not so final in the face of the Resurrection.

In Christ, we learn a wonderful truth - not even death is final for God has provided for us in His Son the ultimate promise of reversibility.
One day, what God did in His Son, what He did with One, He will do again - only this time it will be on a much grander scale.

The first generation of Christians staked everything on their hope in the resurrection; today's generation of Christians do not.
But I don't know why.
Maybe it is because of materialism, maybe it is because of fallenness - I'm not sure; but I do know that if we staked our entire lives on the fact of the resurrection of Christ, we would be very different people.

In turning to the Gospels, the accounts of Jesus' Resurrection is not what one would expect. 
There are no dramatic appearances - nobody stops and doubts what they've seen.
The appearances are wispy, mysterious; they are confusing to the people who see Him.
It is as if the person who sees the Lord has been invaded by truth, unexpectedly.

Friend, sometimes God still moves that way in our lives today.
God makes Himself known to us in mysterious, unexpected ways where His truth invades our "normal" lives ever so briefly.
As a result, it can either build your hope or build your skepticism.

Like in the first century, there are those who doubt your life events where God is evident. 
There will always be those who ask, 'Where is the Body?'
My explanation is that Jesus is Risen and is alive forevermore.
Are the doubters theories better than mine?
I don't think so because of what I have seen since I have believed in that which I did not see.

Like the Resurrection, those who have had God move in their lives - in a death, in a healing, in a tragedy - it is these who believe and have a solid foundation of hope in their hearts and truly believe they can change the world.

In our world, it is difficult to help others understand the Lord and believe.
We often forget that it was very hard for the disciples to understand and believe the resurrection as well and they were eye-witnesses.
The one convincing appearance for most is when Jesus had breakfast with them; you see, ghosts don't eat fish, not even Holy Ghosts.

Yet, when they see the Resurrected Jesus and they figure it out - they find Him to be irresistible because when the Lord invades your life with His ultimate truth - He is Irrefutable.

As far as we know, every person who saw the Risen Lord believed.
No unbeliever ever saw Jesus alive after His death.
But that will change in the future as He reverses death finally and forever.

Death, disease, pain and suffering may seem like the winners in the world and it may seem like they will be here forever - an irreversible situation. The day will come when the word 'irreversible' is abolished.
But we must remember, the world we have now is because one man reversed a perfect Creation; one day the world we be brought back to its original form in the power of the Resurrection. 

And if God can do that with me and you in the future, just imagine what He can do through our lives right now, if we will only let Him be God and we be His servants.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Getting Even

"It's only a small crack...but cracks make caves collapse."

                                                                                                       ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

In a world of unspeakable atrocity - Virginia Tech shooting, 9/11, Rwanda, Newtown (take your pick), we must wonder, 'how in the world did we get to this place?'

We are lied to by our leaders to the point where we expect it daily.
We here of constant tragedy on the news.

Vigil at Virginia Tech

And when tragedy or pain or personal hurt invades our lives or a person's life we love, we want to get even.

Granted, in a world where rape, maiming and military slaughter seems to ravage most of the third world - it is difficult to show others the value of forgiveness.
And in our world, when we are confronted with a Newtown Massacre, acts of forgiveness seems to be unjust and even irrational.

Yet, a Christian's strongest weapon to counteract violence, pain and 'non-grace' in our fallen world is, quite simply, forgiveness.
But friend, if you are going to practice forgiveness, you must realize that there is a cost involved.

Honestly, forgiving people may very well be the best way to "get even" with those who have injured us or done something to hurt us.
Rarely can anyone go wrong with being Christ-like to those who injure us in the most hurtful ways. 

On the other hand, if we harbor this pain and let it fester, never forgiving and just moving on, the pain which remains from the injury will cause even more injury.
Just give it time.

I was once deployed to Germany for a short tour in Operational Support of the Active Duty Air Force.
One thing I noticed about Europe was that most of the continent was at one point, a battlefield for some army, for some general, for some country attempting to conquer the next.
In this, it was easy to see unforgiveness as the major recurring theme of Europe.

While Western Europe has seemed to settle down since the end of WWII, with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the theme has migrated to Eastern Europe in the fallout. 
Today, what we see raging in their wars and conflicts is simply a continuation of a fight whose roots are in past centuries.
To put it in layman's terms - 'Every atrocity requires and equal and opposite atrocity.'

Is that how you want to live your life?
I don't.

You see, in the flow of revenge, our 'get backs to get even' will NEVER settle the score.
If someone lied and gossiped about you, then yours has to be greater about them to even things up.
We must, be the definition of revenge, give as much pain back as what we have received.
Yet, this is an ever-escalating battle because the score is never even, nor is it settled.

American Cemetery, Luxembourg

I am blessed because I settle all scores; but they are settled the right way.
Not by strength, not by my own power and certainly not by attempting to hurt those who attempted to hurt me or my family.
I'm not the same person I once was, I don't settle scores by pain - for, that is impossible.
They are to be settled in forgiveness and the love of Christ, or these things are never settled at all.

At the very least, forgiveness stops the retribution where people personally hurt one another; and if those you have forgiven don't let go, they just might lay awake at night trying to think as to why you aren't trying to get back at them.
You see, when people hurt others routinely, that's what they expect from others - to be hurt.
When a Christian reverses the trend and ends the cycle, they have difficulty figuring it out because they have never truly experienced grace.

And that's what the Christian should magnify in all things - forgiveness and grace; simply because that's what Jesus has given us and we have received from Him.
Should we give any less to others?

I do realize that forgiveness seems unjust at times; but it was also unjust for Jesus to die on the Cross for the sin He never committed.
Yet, He willing submitted to the Cross for you and I.

We know from living in this fallen world that force works.
Throughout my life, I have watched Jews and Arabs fight one another over perceived wrongs; trying to right each of them with rockets and bullets.
It will never happen.

Material wrong deals with physicals and externals.
True forgiveness deals with the evil which resides in a person's heart.
For example, a person may never get a job back which they wrongly lost; but forgiveness allows them to move on to the greater things which God has planned for their life.

When I was a child, Pope John Paul II was threatened by an attempted assassination.
I can remember the Pope going to the prison where the would-be assassin was placed and forgave him for his malice.
At the time, I wondered if his forgiveness was real; for, I had never experienced anything like that before in my young life.

I have come to understand as a grown, Christian man, forgiveness matters or we have absolutely no hope of living together peacefully in this life or in the next life throughout eternity.

There are several things I remember from my childhood about forgiveness and grace.
None of which were easy to forgive, but points the arrow to the path of grace.

I remember, when I was merely 10 years old in 1983, the same Pope visited his home; John

Paul II arrived in Poland, who was at that time controlled by the Communist Soviet Union.
I can barely remember any news stories about it; but it happened.
In an act of civil defiance, hundreds of thousands of Poles participated in a public, open-air mass; it was also a criminal act at the time considering the Communist Bloc was officially atheist. 

Later that same day, those same people, influenced by the Pope's anti-communist stance, marched right by the Communist Party building.
As they marched, thousands of people were chanting, "We forgive you..."
It was as if they were saying, 'We don't even hate you for what you've done; God is bigger than you and you're not worth it.'

How could they be sincere?
The same way millions of blacks were sincere in singing 'We Shall Overcome,' under the leadership of the man millions of whites called, "Martin Luther Coon."
In Dixie, there weren't atrocities in retribution when blacks first gained the vote and then later became political powerhouses, occupying offices from police officer to Congressman.
And in Poland, there weren't millions of communists executed on the streets day after day.

No, whether it is the Communists, the White Supremacist, the Nazi or the man down the road who sought to injure you or may even continue to do so; retribution cannot be the answer or the pain will never stop but continue on.

Most of those who read this blog can remember the Cold War.
When I was a child, like millions of others, I believed that it was possible that the Cold War and arms race was going to end in a great nuclear fire.
Television airing movies supporting this theory and preachers teaching congregations the 'Evil Empire' had their fingers on "The Button" didn't help my confidence in making it to the 1990's.

But the Cold War did not end in a nuclear fire destroying the planet; instead, it ended in the fires of the flickering candles of the Christians, who left their churches and made their way to the streets throughout Eastern Europe.

I watched on television the night the Berlin Wall fell; I was a teenager and couldn't believe it.

That wall, which was constructed under the armed guard of the Communists, began to teeter because at first, a few peaceful Christians demanded reform in East Germany.
From the few came millions who protested the same.
The Wall fell and later, Germany was reunited under the watchful eye of the Europeans it once sought to control.
Yet, there was not one shot fired and the former enemies of the Germans, cheered them on in their quest to restore themselves.

And from this one wall falling, new powers arose in Europe; new politics began to form for the future.
In 1989, ten nations and 1/2 Billion people joined in non-violent revolutions. 

And the credit goes to Christians who persevered under death threat in the house churches and underground meetings throughout Europe.
To acknowledge their sacrifice, in Leipzig, a banner was hung near St. Nikolai Church, which read: Wir danken Dir, Kirche

Roughly translated:       "We Thank You, Church"

If you're in the Underground tonight, keep mind that God's power in His grace is how we must overcome.
While many of us will never experience what you are experiencing, know that we're praying for you and love you; you too will be vindicated in Christ as those in Europe were in the 1990's.

But whether it is a person in the Underground, under a threat of death or a person who is having their livelihood and integrity threatened, the most human thing we do is lash out against them.
Yet, this is where Christian maturity and Christian action meet in our lives.

Due to the fact that it goes against human nature, forgiveness must be taught and practiced; not just today, but every day.
Not just in words or prayers; but also in deed and acts.
For, the greatest gift a Christian can give the 'Get Even, Get Back' culture in which we live, is to simply forgive others in the grace and power of God.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.