2 Corinthians 3:18 "True Acceptance"

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ~2 Corinthians 3:18

Two major aspects of the transformation that Jesus brings that are sometimes overlooked are forgiving ourselves/others and repentance. When we ask God to forgive our sins, we must also forgive ourselves for the sins we’ve committed and forgive those who have sinned against us. Too often people will hang onto the shame and pain and really stall themselves in the process of transformation. Jesus didn’t die for us to dwell in the midst of the muck. He died so we’d have victory. Therefore, we need to completely let go of all that is associated with that sin.

Forgiveness is not the only problem. Many people do not choose repentance. Repentance is completely turning against our sin. We must make a 180 degree turn to choose to leave old ways behind that led us to that sin and to walk the path Christ has for us. Only when we choose to turn away from evil will we see the true glory of God.

Further Thoughts:

1. Find Scripture on forgiveness and repentance. Write out one of each here.
2. Are there sins in your past that you haven’t forgiven yourself for? Write out a declaration of forgiveness to yourself.
3. Who do you need to forgive? You don’t have to go to them. They may not even know they’ve hurt you. But in your heart you need to forgive them for the wrong they’ve done. Write out a statement of forgiveness to them.
4. What parts of your old way of life do you keep hanging onto? List the areas of your life that need a 180 degree turn from.

Father, help me to forgive myself and others and teach me to turn away from the old me and build on the new. Amen.

Romans 10:9-11 "Our Choice for Christ"

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. ~Romans 10:9-11

The right to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior is completely a choice. He has already paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins, but we must choose to accept that grace-filled gift. It’s like receiving a beautifully wrapped present. We can accept the gift, but if we never unwrap and open the gift, we have not truly received it. Acceptance happens by believing in your heart through faith that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did. Ask Him to forgive your sins and receive His amazing gift.

The choice to receive Christ also comes with a commitment. We are stating that we are now followers of Christ. To follow anyone is to do as they lead. Christ wants to not only be your Savior, He desires to be Lord of your life. Surrendering to the Lordship of Christ will be the most liberating choice you will ever make.

Further Thoughts:

1. Define “grace.”
2. Why did Jesus sacrifice for us?
3. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can do that right now. Confess that you are a sinner and ask for His forgiveness. His grace, mercy and love are waiting for you. Write out your prayer of confession.
4. If you have already received Christ as Savior and Lord, write out your story. When did you receive him and how have you grown in your relationship with Christ?

Thank You, Lord, for Your amazing grace and precious gift of salvation. Help me to never take Your sacrifice for granted as I strive to follow You. Amen.

Hebrews 4:12-13 "Laid Bare"

Read Hebrews 4:12-13.

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight." NIV

Do you think we will ever fully understand the enormity of these verses? We are told that through obedience we enter into His rest and and then, bam, hit with these verses. God knows me inside and out. He sees every dirty crevice and grimy indentation. He knows not only my thoughts, but my intentions. No corner of my mind or heart is hidden from Him. Every action He sees me make, He also sees the purpose in my heart. I can hide from others and even try to fool myself, but my complete being in all its imperfections covered in some vaguely good deeds is an open book to my Creator.

And here lies the rub, He's also my Savior. I can't hide anything from Him, but then He still loves me. He knows exactly where I fall and where I attempt to shine. He sees ever corner of my heart, and still He loves me. My imperfect being He now views draped in His amazing grace.

Further Thoughts:

1. Are you thinking you can hide from God or are you just fooling yourself? Why?
2. If we know we need to hide from God, why don't we just confess and rid ourselves of the things that are sin to Him?
3. We are all imperfect beings -- some of us are just forgiven. What verses prove that?
4. Read the words of this amazing hymn. (suggestion: mute the sound.)

Colossians 3:12-17 "Clothe Yourselves, Part 2"

Read Colossians 3:12-17.

"... clothe yourselves...." NIV

Paul continues to teach us how to live as a member of the body of Christ and in His likeness. God has really been working on me in the area of forgiveness over the last couple of years. We all have people that hurt us at many different levels. Some things we can just brush off; others cause deep wounds that leave ugly scars. The main point to remember is that I'm not perfect; God forgave me; so I should forgive others. Easy words to say, but can be very difficult to live out.

The Word says that all of these virtues should be bound together with love. Love is not an affection, but a choice. This is an agape love -- the same sacrificial love that God has for me. I must live out my life in His love.

Then out of that love wrapped around all those virtues, we can live in the peace of Christ Jesus. Paul is beginning to sound a little like he's calling us to a 60's love fest, but he's right. We can have a peace that passes all understanding. We can forgive as we have been forgiven. We can love with the love that comes from the Father. These are all promises that we can stand on. And in a world of chaos, confusion, and fear why would I want to live any other way? I am thankful that He makes all of these things possible.

So I will hang close to the body -- helping others to grow in the Word and in wisdom, and they will help me. Worshipping together. Living and loving together. All for His honor and glory.

Further Thoughts:

1. Is there someone you need to forgive that you haven't yet? Now is the time. Hurt may remain, relationships may change, but forgiveness is a choice that is possible. Do it in love.
2. Peace is a relative term. Are you living in a state of peace that you have defined or are you taking into account other's perspective of peace and accommodating them? Love would look out for the others over self.
3. Twice in this passage it speaks of "giving thanks." When was the last time you gave thanks to the Father for something other than the meal you were about to eat? Take some time each day to express your thanks to the Father. We have so much to be thankful for.

Joseph: Genesis 50:15-26 "Finishing Well"

Read Genesis 50:15-26.

"But Joseph said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?'" NIV

After all they had been through with Joseph, the brothers were still afraid of him and the retribution he could wield. I'm amazed that they hadn't seen him for who he really had become. But they had seen his dreams come true. I suppose that would bring fear to anyone. They also probably suffered from a lot of guilt over what they had done to Joseph and their father. Now that Jacob's protection was gone, Joseph could use his power to get revenge. But he didn't.

Joseph had found amazing forgiveness and healing over the years. He chose to see the situation for what God had done with it rather than dwelling in the midst of his suffering. How easy would it have been for Joseph to have all his brothers thrown in prison for the remainder of their lives? He'd have not only gotten rid of them, but gained all their wealth as well. But Joseph was not the man they thought he had become. The scars remained, but the heart was pure.

How often do we choose to hang onto the scars and bitterness of our past? The damage that causes affects so many aspects of our lives -- physical well-being, relationships, most importantly the hardness of our hearts and our relationship with the Father. Forgiveness sets us free from the bondage of our hurt and allows us to move in step with the Father, not with the past.

Further Thoughts:

1. Are you hanging onto bitterness in your life? 
   
2. How does Joseph reflect Jesus and his future suffering?
   
3. How was Joseph a big-picture thinker?
   
4. Write down some thoughts about Joseph's life and how his example can help you grow?

Joseph: Genesis 37:5-36 "Black Hearts"

Read Genesis 37:5-36.

"his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to, the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt." NIV

This is a very hard passage to read and glean from. First we have a 17-year-old young man who is blessed by God with visions but not very discerning in who to tell them to. He further alienates himself from his brothers by telling them of the dream that shows they will be subject to him -- twice! Joseph was obviously naive and had a lot of growing up to do in dealing with people.

Then you have the brothers -- all but Reuben -- who want to do bodily harm to Joseph. They consider murder, abandonment, and settle on selling him into slavery. Brothers with that much hatred in their hearts changed Joseph's life forever. The evil that is so prevalent in these young men's hearts must be completely displayed now to contrast with the fact that later, we will see them become the heads of the twelve tribes of Judah. I suppose to truly understand the amazing transformation that God can do in people's hearts, we must be exposed to the black ugliness of sin. And their hearts couldn't have been any uglier.

There are no hopeless causes, no sin that is beyond God's forgiving. His grace is deep; His mercy reaches wide. We can be assured of His love and forgiveness of our sins when we see such transformations occur. But what about Joseph? God hasn't abandoned him as we will see. He's just preparing Joseph's character for a position that only he can fill to complete God's plans.

Further Thoughts:

1. What constitutes evil?
   
2. Why is there evil in the world? Support with Scripture.
   
3. How are men/women able to do evil acts? Why does God allow it? Support with Scripture.
   
4. How are we as believers to respond to the evil around us?
   

1 John 1:5-10 "The Light of Forgiveness"

1 John 1:5-10.

"This is the message...." NIV

I love this passage. It's so full and rich. First, if we are to have fellowship with God, we are to be walking in the light because He cannot abide in darkness. Can you visualize what we so often try to do? We are walking down a road side-by-side and God is bathed in beautiful light while we are trudging through inky blackness. It just doesn't work. To be in relationship with God, we must be walking in that same light. That means we need to shun the evil of the world that is darkness. We are to not be part of it in any way, but remain in the light as He is in the light. Calling ourselves believers and still walking in darkness just proves we are liars. It isn't possible.

Now I can immediately hear the retort I've so often heard from people claiming to be Christians yet clearly not desiring to live as one. They will say, "No one can walk in the light because no one is perfect. We all sin." Well, the second statement is absolutely true. We do all sin, and that's why the second half of this passage is so wonderful. You see, even if we are surrendered to Christ -- daily taking up our cross to following Him -- we are also human and daily fighting against the temptations the enemy throws at us. We are not successful in dodging those fiery darts 100% of the time. We do sin. BUT, when we confess those sins, He has promised to forgive us. Why is that? Because He is faithful and just.

He is faithful in forgiving us because that is what He promised He would do and He is never a liar. He knew we couldn't live an absolutely perfect life. That's why He has made a provision for us to ask forgiveness through the blood sacrifice of our Lord. If our confession is true and we want to repent of our sin, He will forgive us for our sin.

Because He is just, He will honor His promise of using His Son as the final sacrifice. Justice, in God's eyes, says that someone must pay for the sin. If we haven't confessed with a repentant heart nor truly desire to follow the Lord, then the Savior's sacrifice is useless in our lives. If we are not going to claim the power and sacrifice of Jesus Christ by yielding to Him, then we must accept the responsibility of being the ones to endure the sacrifice. Someone has to pay. The Judge has spoken. The choice of who will pay lies with us.

We all have the opportunity to walk in the amazing light of our Lord and Savior. He already paid the price. Don't make Him watch his sacrifice go unused. Surrender.

Further Thoughts:

1. Are you trying to straddle light and darkness? 
   
2. What changes do you need to make in your life to be walking in the light?
   
3. Is there sin that you need to confess blocking your way? He is patiently waiting.
   
4. Why can't we separate what we do with our bodies from our spiritual being? How are they tied together? (support with Scripture)
   

Matthew 9:1-8 "A Healing Now and Forever"

Read Matthew 9:1-8 and Mark 2:1-12.

“When Jesus saw their faith….” NIV

This passage was a little confusing to me until I read it in the other gospels and the study notes. That’s why I referenced Mark above. The question here, is Jesus equating the healing of the paralytic to the forgiveness of sins. If so, doesn’t that mean that the man was paralyzed because of his sin? So are all illnesses due to sin?

The answer is no. Jesus does not teach that illness is due to sin in his life. Illness may result from sin, but it is not brought on by sin. Sin is a matter of the heart, where illness is possible because of the fall, but a by-product of our frail bodies.

So what is Jesus’ purpose here? Again it seems He is proving His deity to the Pharisees. First of all, the paralytic and his friends demonstrate a faith in Jesus by going to such lengths to get to Him. Christ knew their hearts, so he met the man’s most important, basic need first – the forgiveness of His sins. By doing so, He enraged the religious teachers because they didn’t believe even the Messiah could forgive sins. Only deity had that power. When Jesus asks, “Which is easier?” He is basically saying to the Pharisees, “See, I have the power to forgive and to heal. Both are equally difficult and can only be done through the divine. I am deity.”

Further Thoughts:

1. Although He is capable of both healing your body and healing your heart, the healing of your heart is always more important to God. The body is temporal; the soul eternal. Read Matthew 10:28, 1 Corinthians 15:50, and Ephesians 6:12. A major example of this is Job. If you haven’t read his story lately, take some time to read it now.
2. Spend some quiet time today asking God to speak to your heart and reveal if there is any sin in your life that needs forgiving.
   
   

Matthew 6:12, 14-15 "Let It Go"

"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." NIV

I have followed the Lord most of my life; raised in a pastor's home, hardly missed a Sunday service or Sunday school class growing up, attended a Christian university; a pastor's wife for 23 years and I just heard this verse about 10 years ago for the very first time. I've known the Lord's prayer since I was four, but never knew this verse on forgiveness followed it. And what a terrible hole in my education. Oh, I'm not blaming anyone but myself. Being an English major I learned long ago that you always read everything in context. But this is an aspect of praying and forgiving that I should never have missed and here's why. It comes with a curse.

I touched on this in a previous post discussing the difficulty of forgiving. But now I think we need to focus on the consequences of not forgiving. It is very clearly stated in verse 12 and verse 15 that our forgiveness from the Father will only go as far as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. As I stated in my previous post, that may not be an external action, but an internal change of heart. If we are hanging on to the hurts of the past and not forgiving, we not only suffer from the pain continually eating away at us, dragging us down like an anchor attached to our legs, but also from God not forgiving us for the sins we commit. That's a price I'm not willing to pay.

But to forgive takes a humble heart. We must be willing to submit to the fact that even though I am the injured party, like my offender, I am merely a sinner saved by grace. I have no right to not extend forgiveness when forgiveness was extended to me on the cross. We are all cursed with a sinful nature and living in a world dominated by the enemy. I succumb to temptations just like everyone else. So how can I be so arrogant as to not forgive an offense. They need grace as much as I do.

Which takes us back to the beginning of the prayer in verse 9. I am a servant of the Most High and will submit all of my life to His will. If I am to forgive to be forgiven, then I will humble myself and surrender to His Lordship. Besides, it's a whole lot easier to surrender than to hang onto the past hurts. With my hands full of pain and hate, I'm not able to reach out to the future joys. Forgive me, Lord, like I've forgiven those who've hurt me.

Further Thoughts:

1. What is the relationship between forgiving others and humility? Support with Scripture.
2. Is forgiving a wrong committed against you dismissing the hurt it caused and justifying the offender? Why or why not?
3. Compare and contrast forgiveness and revenge. See my July 28th post.
4. Second only to Jesus, Joseph must be one of the most forgiving people that ever lived. His brothers sold him into slavery in a foreign country. Joseph suffered for years until God raised him to a position of honor. He had every reason to never forgive his brothers for what they had done to him. You can read Joseph's story in Genesis 37-50. But right now, read Genesis 50:15-21 for an amazing account of forgiveness.
5. Jesus was treated in the most brutal way possible -- and as an innocent man. But what did He say while his battered body hung on the cross with nails piercing His hands and feet?Read Luke 23:34.
6. Is there someone you need to forgive? Do so right now. Let go of the hurt, allow the Lord to heal you, and move forward in victory. There's a lot of living left to do.

Ephesians 4:32 "Why is Forgiveness so Hard?"

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." NIV

Sometimes our hurt can really interfere with our giving forgiveness. The problem with that is God commands that we forgive even if the other person doesn't ask for forgiveness. In fact, we must forgive even if we feel the other person does not deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness is not contingent on the offending party's heart, it's dependent on ours. I can't control another person's sense of wrong or confession of wrongful doing, but I am in control of how I will respond to the hurt and how I will let it affect or not affect my life.

A few years ago I had a women's Bible study of 30 somethings. Through the course of the study, I came to realize that half the women had broken relationships with their earthly fathers, and it had happened in their early teens. The Lord started speaking to me about this and after talking to a friend who had gone through this with her father, we planned a forgiveness weekend at church. Saturday, our speaker talked about her experiences with her father which were extremely abusive and the process she went through to forgive him. Then on Sunday morning, the pastor focused the entire service on forgiveness and we had an extended altar time. Four of the six women in my study were there that day, and all of them were at the altar with their husbands beside them asking God to forgive them for their being unforgiving and for the strength to forgive their fathers and be released of the pain their dads had caused. You see, it didn't matter that their fathers weren't there, it mattered that their hearts were right with God. We are not judge and jury, God is. We are just told to forgive "just as in Christ God forgave you." Easy? No. Obedient? Yes. And so freeing. Being unforgiving eats away at our hearts, forgiveness heals.

Lord, help me to have a forgiving heart. You forgave me -- a sinner who hurt You terribly -- so I can do nothing less for those who hurt me.

Further Thoughts:
1. Using a concordance, look up "forgive" and "forgiveness."
2. What are the consequences of being unforgiving? (See Matthew 6:9-15)
3. Is there someone you need to forgive? Do it now and be free of the anger and bitterness. (NOTE: You may need to tell the other person you are forgiving them, but it is not always possible or appropriate to go to the person you are forgiving, especially if they have not asked for forgiveness. Sometimes, they don't even know that they wronged you. The important part of forgiveness is that you have a right attitude and your heart is right with God.)
4. Spend some time thanking God for forgiving you, a sinner saved by His grace and mercy. You were once undeserving of forgiveness, now you are a child of the King.