Tag: Real Change

On Forgiving My Enemy

Matthew 5:43-48 MSG  43-47 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.  48 “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Luke 23:34 MSG  Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Observation

The Word of God was given to us not for what it would mean to us (trying to rationalize through human experience), but, rather, for what it would mean for us in revealing the Lord’s perspective.  In other words, His words are not to be interpreted from my “humanly possible” perspective, but, rather, to give me insight into His “nothing is impossible” one.  These passages are a perfect example of how God’s perspective challenges me to be less human and more supernatural – trusting in Him and allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to make me more like Jesus so I function as He intends in the Body of Christ. 

So, returning love to those who hurt, attack, despise and use you (or someone you care for) seems impossible from a human standpoint.  It is incredibly difficult to look past the face and actions of an enemy to see the chains that bind him or her.   But Jesus did just that on the Cross.  “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”  Jesus said this about the man who drive the nails in His hands, the man who held the whip, Pontius Pilate, the religious leaders, those who yelled, “Crucify!” and all of us who were yet to come. 

Loving our enemies does not mean submitting to physical abuse or enabling them to avoid the consequences of their actions.  “When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.”  Loving them requires us to forgive them and pray for their healing and deliverance – a nearly impossible feat without choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s perspective in our most human moments and choosing in His strength to journey in that direction.  The road may seem long, steep and treacherous, but it is worth the taking.

Impact on Me

I confess that there are people that I find hard to forgive because of the wounds they have created by word and deed.  I have rationalized wishing harm on someone who hurt me (or others for whom I care dearly) and clothed it in my mind as justice.  I am sure there are people that feel the same toward me.  We are none of us without fault.  But, if we want to be more like Jesus, then we need to see others through God’s perspective.  “He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. “

So, I want to learn to look past the visible or invisible wound to me and attempt to see the soul, gaining compassion for those so wounded that they would choose to attack or harm another – verbally or physically.  I want to be to others as Jesus has been to me – so gracious and generous when I did not deserve it.  “Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”  I have not yet arrived at this place, but I sincerely want to go there.

Prayer

Good, gracious, generous, loving God, how easily I forget the undeserved grace I received when I am wounded by another.   How difficult it is for me to forgive those who make themselves my enemy and spitefully use me, but You say this forgiving, this grace and mercy, makes me more like Jesus, more effective in His Body, more beneficial to Your kingdom.  So, I ask You to search me and find those ungracious and stingy thoughts, those wounds that need to be healed, so I may allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in me so I can fulfill Your will and purpose in my life.  Make it so, in Jeus’ name.

On The Bottom Line

Romans 12:1-2 Phillips. 1 With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. 2 Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

Romans 12:1-2 MSG. 1 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 

Observation

This chapter 12 of Romans could be titled, “The Universal Practical Guide to Worshipping God in Your Living.”  Paul has spent the previous 11 chapters explaining how only faith in Christ provides forgiveness of sin and redemption, and that faith is not based on or evidenced by the adherence to any Jewish religious rules, practices, or The Law.  Living by faith in Christ transcends culture and religious rites, rituals and rules; it is based on:

  • 24/7 worship,
  • our glad obedience/submission to God’s will, and
  • allowing Him the freedom to change us in order to fulfill His plan in and through us – “bring the best out…develop well-formed maturity”. 

This might require us to be as counter-cultural as Paul is asking the Jewish believers to be regarding new Gentile believers – by accepting that faith in Christ is not proven by works, but, rather, weighing all against the heart of God to redeem and restore relationship with all of His creation.  With this heart, we can embrace others in the Body of Christ in spite of differences in practice as long as Jesus is their Lord and only Savior.  Paul lays out the bottom line for all believers here in chapter 12:

  • submit (“give Him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and acceptable by Him”),
  • be changed and matured by the Holy Spirit (“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within”)
  • serve with humility trusting in God’s plan/purpose for you (“Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it”), and
  • let your love be sincere, motivated by mercy, grace, and redemption  generously poured out to all (Romans 9-end).

Impact on Me

The book of Romans is cram-packed with teaching by Paul on what really happened on the Cross, Who Christ is, what His sacrifice really provides for all mankind, and how I should respond to/show my gratitude for this free gift of redemption. 

Here Paul is saying that I need to:

  • submit myself to God, giving the Holy Spirit freedom to search me, know me (without reserving any private areas),
  • allow the Holy Spirit to bring areas that need changing to my attention, and
  • give the Holy Spirit freedom to work the change in me that makes me ready and able to fulfill God’s will and purpose for me.

This requires me to have the courage to trust Him with my secret places of pride, shame, sorrow, guilt, stubbornness, fear, selfishness, criticism, and all the other ugliness I have hidden away in the locked closets of my soul. I am then shamefully faced with the question of how much I really do trust Him.  Would I really be willing to let Him be in charge of cleaning out those closets, truly putting my past, my present, my future under His scrutiny and in His hands regardless of the cost to me?  Am I willing for Him to reveal my deepest darkest secrets if it serves His purpose to heal and release me or others?  It all comes down to the bottom line – how much do I really trust Him?

Prayer

Lord, my desire is to trust You so unconditionally that I will have no secret places, no locked closets in my soul full of shame, guilt and unforgiveness.  I want to cooperate with You in the process – “be changed from the inside out”–so I “may prove in practice that the plan of God for you (me) is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”  Help me to hear the song You sing over me – that it may ring in my flesh, my heart, my spirit so I may worship You with my “everyday, ordinary life…and place it before God as an offering.”  I want to live in Heaven’s culture, having my actions determined by what You see with Your eyes and how You love with Your heart.  I pray this all in Jesus’ name. Make it so.

On Solid Foundation

Matthew 7:24-27 (MSG). 24-25 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.  26-27 “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” 
 
Matthew 7:24-27 (NASB) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” 
 

Observation

This passage of scripture illustrates the reason I like to read from different translations. This is a very familiar passage.  Both translations above convey the same thought. The New American Standard (NASB) is a word-for-word translation – a Bible that facilitates deeper study (words, themes).  The Message uses very contemporary language and familiar idioms to help us understand the points Jesus was making in a cultural context unfamiliar to me; in other words, putting me into that audience 2000 years ago by translating into my cultural understanding the thoughts, nuances, tone and tenor of the teaching as heard and understood by those Jesus was teaching. 

I find being transported into the original audience to be very illuminating and challenging.  This should be no surprise as Jesus taught in a way to reveal hearts and challenge the comfort level of current religious practice.  We are told in the following verses 28-29 that “When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.” MSG. 
 
So, when the teaching is put into my cultural context, I am arrested by this:  “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life….”  In my head, the “everyone” in the NASB applied to everyone – followers, non-followers, ex-followers, followers in word only, never- been followers, and whatever others there might be.  The Message made me recognize the context and reassess to whom this teaching is addressed.  This teaching is pointedly addressed to those who identify themselves as active followers and, therefore, me.   

Impact on Me

 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on.”  Jesus wants me to take His teaching seriously enough that I choose to do more than slap a coat of paint on my old self.  No 1950’s perfect-looking Leave It To Beaver household with June Cleaver doing housework in pearls and a dress will do!  He wants me to go deep to rewire myself, and give Him permission and access to repair my foundations so I can stand in the shaking and buffeting that life and the Enemy will bring.

To have a foundation built on His rock, it is not enough for me to teach what is right (look good), I must also live internally and externally by what I teach others is right and honors God. I can’t just pay lip service or be on my best behavior when I think others are listening or watching. God knows what is going on in my thoughts and the intents of my heart. If I sin by speaking with grace while covering up deception or hatred in my heart, others may only hear the grace, but God is not fooled. He knows the difference between a bald-faced lie (false evidence of submission to Him – foundation on shifting sand) and my choosing to respond according to His Word rather than according to my flesh (evidence of real submission – foundation built on solid rock). 

So, what Jesus is saying here is that it is not enough for me to just appear good and godly, but I must constantly be wrestling with the power and cooperation of the Holy Spirit within my heart and soul to truly embrace the godliness I know and teach is right.  Being rooted and grounded in Him, sending down anchors into His Rock (which is Jesus Christ), is the only sure way to endure whatever comes.  

Prayer

Oh, Lord, Redeemer, Lover of my soul, Grace-Giver, I stand in awe of Your capacity for mercy for me.  You look upon me, Your recalcitrant child, with hopeful expectation that I will trust in Your love for me, listen to Your word and hear the wisdom and grace in it for me.  Examine my foundations and set me on the Rock which is Jesus, bolting me to that solid foundation.  When storms arise, may I be found standing because my foundation is sure.  “Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.”  Lord, You have my permission to rebuild me to Your plans so that I may fulfill Your will and purpose in my life.  In Jesus’ name, make it so.