Forgiveness

So, we got Bin Laden. America rejoices over our fallen enemy. I had mixed feelings. Obviously this guy was responsible for many lost lives. Many, many lost lives. I thought about those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack, and I wanted to ask them how they felt now. I guess they would say what most would: Justice is served. Now I can move on. My response: seems silly to wait ten years to move on, waiting for justice to be served.

I know the thought of forgiving someone like Bin Laden seems crazy. How could we forgive him? He attacked our country. He killed many people. However, here's something to make you think: God loved him too. Right? The Bible says that God doesn't want anyone to perish. Does that include Bin Laden? Hitler? It must. If you asked around, most people would probably believe that people like that deserve to burn in hell for all eternity. But who are we to say such a thing? Justice is the Lord's. Not ours.

What about you? Do you have a Bin Laden in your life? Hopefully nobody has hurt you as seriously as this man hurt others. But I've noticed that a lot of Christians just won't forgive. And they remain bitter. Angry. They won't move on. Not until justice is served anyway. But c'mon, even after you receive your justice, does that really make it any better? Those people didn't get their loved ones back the moment Bin Laden was killed. The pain and the loss remains. So much for justice. We can choose to move on, before we receive our justice. We can choose to move on, if we never receive our justice. We can choose to move on, every day, despite the pain. And guess what? The Bible tells us to. 

I heard this one man talking about how he loves to get into car accidents, especially when it's not his fault. Weird right? He spoke of his latest accident (which wasn't his fault) and he was simply giddy with joy as he jumped out of his car towards the person who hit him. Why was he so happy? Because he got to look that person in the face, tell them that he is not angry with them, that he forgives them for wrecking his car, and that he loves them because God loves them. And he would pray with them. These people were shocked. In comparison, I also heard recently a Christian speak of their latest car accident, where they proceeded to cuss the person out for hitting them. Which one shows God's love for people more? Yeah. 

So if you have unforgiveness in your life, I encourage you to work past that and forgive that person. Because God loves them too, and he wants to redeem them. He also wants to use you, and it's difficult to be used when there's bitterness and anger built up inside. You may be thinking, 'But you don't know what they did to me! You don't understand!' No, YOU don't understand. We are God's! We are redeemed and chosen and loved! Whatever they did to you, it does not change who you are in Christ. There is healing. Not to mention... "and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors..." Matthew 6:12. We are to forgive people as we want God to forgive us! Think about that! You're probably feeling uncomfortable about that verse if you are not forgiving someone. What if God refused to forgive a sin of yours? Exactly. We need to forgive others. Because Jesus is love, and we are Jesus to the world.

Love

I've been listening to a conference series about love. Can I just say, I don't think that Christians are living the way we are intended to live, at all. If God didn't have a purpose for you to be here, He would have taken you to Heaven the second you were saved. We aren't here to live like everybody else. We aren't here to get whatever we want because we're children of the King and we "deserve it", like some of those tv preachers teach. We are here to love people, and through that love we are Christ to the world.

Did you know that Christians are the worst tippers ever? It's common for restaurants to despise serving Christians, because they leave a terrible tip and a "Are you going to Heaven?" tract. Did you know that Christians are also the worst workers? It's common for employers to despise hiring Christians, because they don't work! Did you know that if every Christian in America alone tithed (as we are COMMANDED to do, by the way) we could end world poverty and have millions or billions left over? But are Christians in America tithing? Nope. HELLO!! We aren't exactly giving ourselves, or our God, a great name.

Gandhi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians."

What are you doing to stand out? To be different from the world? To show the love of Christ? Most of us it seems aren't loving the world, because we are still waiting to be loved. We don't feel loved, we don't feel worthy. So we do things to change ourselves. To be better. The fact of the matter is, as long as you are waiting to feel loved and to feel worthy or to be enough, you are focusing on yourself and not on others. We ARE loved. We ARE worthy. The Word says so. God loves us so much that His love should absolutely burst out of us onto others.

Sometimes I serve someone at work, who is totally rude, and later find out they're a Christian. It saddens me. They have no love or gratitude for me or anyone else. They're missing the whole point.

We can't miss this point. We can't afford to. People are dying, the world is in chaos, self worth is lower than ever. We must love others. Not because we are suppost to, not because we are obligated to, but because that's just who we are, it's just what we do. We love because we are changed by Christ's love.

So let's change the world.

Difficult People

             Let me start off with my definition of a Christian: Someone who believes that Jesus died for us and was raised from the dead (everyone knows that part), AND who has surrendered their life to Him. I prefer the term “Christ follower” to Christian, because everyone says they’re Christian now-a-days, but how many of them actually do what the Bible says and care about pleasing God? Not many. I guess most of them were just raised in it, and stick with the term. However, I digress.

            A few weeks ago my wonderful Pastor said something that really stuck with me. He said that we need difficult people in our lives. That’s a tough pill to swallow. Nobody likes dealing with people that rub you wrong, or annoy you, or make you want to jump off a bridge. But for us Christians (Christ follower Christians), it’s these people that really make us grow. How are we supposed to develop the fruits of the spirit if we’re surrounded by people that are easy to get along with? Patience, gentleness, etc; it’s what our lives are supposed to produce. Not gonna happen unless we’re surrounded by difficult people.

            I bring this up because lately I’ve been witnessing a lot of “Christians” dealing with difficult people in a very… worldly… way. How does the rest of the world deal with difficult people? They make fun of them, gossip, call them names, you get it. But we are supposed to be known for how different our lives look compared to the rest of the world. If we’re calling people names and gossiping, that’s not getting the world’s attention, that’s just fitting right in with them. That’s not pleasing God or acting at all like Jesus.

            Speaking of Jesus, remember what He said? In Matthew 5:44 He says to love your enemies. Are your enemies difficult people? You bet. And Jesus gets that. He prayed that God would forgive the very people that were killing Him. Do you pray for your enemies? No? Perhaps you should start. Our goal should be to reach everyone for God, that none should perish. That’s God’s goal; don’t you think our goal should match up with God’s? Do you want anyone to wind up in hell? As a Christian, or a “Christ follower”, you shouldn’t. We should want to save people, all people, and we’re not going to do that as long as we’re judging and gossiping and treating people like dirt just because they rub us wrong.

            Just saying, let’s start looking different from the world. How else are we going to make an impact? Let’s start living the way that Jesus lived. Let’s start loving people, all people. Let’s stop being selfish and start loving people more than we love ourselves. It’s tough, I struggle with it too. So let’s help and encourage each other along the way.

            Don’t agree with me? Deciding you’re going to keep doing your own thing and not worrying about what the Bible says or about what pleases God? Perhaps you don’t understand the tremendous sacrifice that was made for you, or God’s outrageous love for you. He deserves our entire lives. He deserves our best.