Beyond Blame
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(This is part two of a series on forgiveness. I’m not sure how many parts there will be! Pt. 1 is The Hardest Thing You’ll Ever Do).
Forgiveness – The Hardest Thing You’ll Ever Do
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Forgiveness is hard. Forgiving an offender is hard. Let’s just cut through the religiousness we hide behind and tell the truth. It is hard. Oh, not so much when someone cuts us off in traffic or steals that parking place we had our eye on. We can move on pretty quickly when the offense is not relational. But it is in relationships that we have the potential to be hurt, offended, betrayed, and find ourselves with a heart struggling to forgive (and it is in relationships that we also have the potential to hurt others, offend others, betray others. As a matter of fact, all, and I do mean all, relationships must deal with this issue.)Whether it is words spoken or the lack or words spoken when we needed them, actions taken or the lack of actions taken, or the million other ways we can be hurt, at times we all find ourselves at times in the position of having a major offense in our hearts that needs to be dealt with.
We Christians build our faith on Christ forgiving us for our sins. Most of us know what the Word says about forgiveness. It’s not for babies. You won’t be forgiven if you don’t forgive. Your lack of forgiveness allows “the tormentors” to access your life. On and on we could go. God doesn’t give us any wiggle room on the issue, but yet we all find ourselves struggling. How do we overcome?
Is God Shouting at You?
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I believe God is always speaking. He is articulate. He is not like a poorly tuned radio, broadcasting a fuzzy white noise which we can barely distinguish above the other sounds around us. In fact, the Old Testament identifies a false god as one who can’t speak.
8 Important Things to Know During Hard Times
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We all live in a world cursed because of sin. Part of the effect of that curse is hard times, difficulty, pain, and sorrow. I so wish I could tell you that Christians don’t have to go through any difficulties, but the Word of God contains story after story of believers in difficult times. Paul and Peter in prison, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Stephen being stoned, believers being persecuted, the very life of Jesus, and I could go on and on. And this list applies to all storms whether we caused them, Satan sent them, or God designed them. In a moment, I am going to share my list of eight things you should know about hard times but before I do that I need to give you some foundation.
The Heart of the Matter
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The Bible has so much to say about our hearts. Jesus challenged the religious leaders of his day when they “found fault” with his disciples for not following their traditions and he had these words for them,
“Hear me, EVERYONE, and understand: there is nothing that enters a man or woman from outside which can defile them; but the things which come out of a person, those are the things that defile them….For from within, OUT OF THE HEART, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these EVIL things come from WITHIN and defile a person.”
Matthew 7
Jesus levels the playing field with this list as he puts evil thoughts, envy, slander, and arrogance on the same team as sexual immorality, theft, murder, and adultery. As he addressed those religious leaders, he said, “You don’t have a leg to stand on! You might not be a murderer, but your mind is full of slander and evil thoughts, etc.”
I am reminded of something Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say: “What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”
Jesus basically taught that our hearts are the heart of the matter. We do well to daily ask God to show us what’s in our hearts.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us that “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” In other words, everything flows from your heart.
