Forgiveness

In the book of John, Jesus encourages His disciples with the promise of the coming Spirit to help them deal with life. They would encounter rejection, betrayal, hatred, fear, frustrations; thankfully, we’re offered the same comforting Spirit to help us along our journey, too.

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives I give to you.” (John 14:25-27)

That’s the key for us as well: remembering all the things the Word has taught us when we find ourselves in our own state of frustration, rejection, betrayal, etc. Jesus’ words link us to God’s age-old promises: “The Lord goes with us, wherever we go” (Joshua 1:9); “Let those who fear the Lord now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me…” (Psalms 118:4-7); “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalms 103:12).

God gives us the strength to continue walking in His path, living by His standards, and loving the way He does. But sometimes mustering up genuine compassion for those who have wronged us isn’t easy or natural. That’s why we have to trust in His process of being formed into His image.

In fact, the opposite of living according to His principles adds tremendous stress and unrest in our lives. Some psychologists recognize the physical damage that the failure to forgive does to our bodies and minds.

First of all, forgiveness is different from condoning, excusing, forgetting, or even reconciling (even though this is an important step in bringing unity to a relationship). But the benefits of forgiveness recognized by healthcare professionals include:

• Less anxiety, stress, and hostility
• Lower blood pressure
• Fewer symptoms of depression
• Stronger immune system
• Improved heart health
• Higher self-esteem

It takes greater strength, wisdom, and faithfulness to seek forgiveness, even if the other party isn’t interested in it. In the same way, Jesus sought to rectify the separation between God and man, even before we cared to embrace it (Romans 5:8). Gandhi once said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

Jesus gave us something to help us to be stronger spiritually and physically. Trust God’s ways over our own!

The Word is Hope

It isn’t too hard to imagine that scene at the home of Martha and Mary in Bethany after the funeral of their brother. Lazarus’ death came as a big surprise to everyone, especially Martha and Mary. An interesting thing about life is that we don’t know how long we have to live. We make plans assuming that we’ll have plenty of time ahead of us, but then the unexpected happens, and all our dreams come to a screeching halt. There were dreams that Martha and Mary knew Lazarus could never achieve now.

Jesus missed the funeral. He hadn’t been there when those closest to Lazarus felt they needed him. By Martha’s comment in John 11:21, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” it seems obvious she was frustrated, maybe disappointed. She also knew that she and Lazarus had become faithful followers of Jesus and that she needed to trust Him now.

However, for Jesus, this was an opportunity to show them an example of what it would be like when He comes back to earth to bring home those who are faithful to him. Before Jesus and His disciples made it to Bethany, He had said in John 11:4, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” For Jesus, the trip was an exciting demonstration of God’s power. It was obvious they couldn’t see what He saw in their situation. They saw death and mourning; He saw life and promise.

His prayer to God (John 11:41-42) revealed His heart. “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”

Sure enough, the day that began in sorrow ended with joy unlike they’d ever experienced. What Jesus did for Lazarus was done to help Martha and Mary and their friends. They needed to have the hope that only God can provide: the hope of resurrection from the dead.

When Jesus arose from the dead three days after His crucifixion, hope was once again restored. We have the privilege of reflecting on that sacrifice daily, but formally we do that when we take the Lord’s Supper, of which Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”

This coming Easter, take time to think about all the hope-filled promises God makes to us. It takes a different perspective to look at all of our circumstances as an opportunity for God’s glory to be seen in what we do. This is what Romans 8:28 says that helps us gain His perspective: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

As we follow God, we should hold His words precious, knowing that His words lead us closer to Him. Jesus was the Word in the flesh, according to John 1:1, 14, which means who Jesus was and what He did explains God’s word from cover to cover. Praise God that He sent His son to show us how to trust Him even in unexpected circumstances.

The Significance

Significance. It’s what ultimately drives most human beings to go farther, to reach higher, to try more. We long for significance in life. That’s another way to say we want to have a purpose and to make an impact on the world we live in.

Solomon wrote at great length about the efforts he made to leave his mark on the world. He said in Ecclesiastes 2:4-5, “I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.” His conclusion: Vanity!

But if simply “being noticed” is the end result of our search for significance, then we might find ourselves making major compromises to the standards we have.

Education opens doors of opportunities. Being educated also is a means to help communicate with others, even specializing in something that really has the power to impact others—and bring more significance to ourselves. A good education can help us work in harmony with God’s goal for mankind and our own search for significance.

The opposite can be true as well. When our “education” is more focused on things that go against our standard found in Christ, then we can find ourselves truly lost in the end.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25-26, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”

Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, “But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Our education points us in the right direction and becomes the standard we live by. If we make Christ the standard behind any kind of education we seek to gain, then we will find significance and peace.

Jesus modeled the level of involvement, the sacrifice, and the determination it took to make a significant impact on the world without losing sight of God’s high standard. Make Christ’s ways part of your ways; you might find that others can find a way because of your choices today.

Why Love?

What is the soul? Or maybe, who is the soul? Perhaps it's helpful to determine how the word has been defined by mankind. In the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, the word for soul is defined as life, person, breath. The Hebrew word Nephesh is further described as the man himself, or we might say individual (as was a common old English usage of the word).

Although the usage of a word can drastically alter how we might describe it; however, there are some words we don’t need to look up to understand—even if we don’t fully understand them.

When it comes to things we feel, we may not always understand how to describe the feeling, but we recognize it as something. Similarly, there is something within us that recognizes what our soul is regardless of how someone defines it. We just know it deep within our souls.

If Nephesh, soul, simply means life, then all living things have a soul. Is that important? Going back to Jesus’ summation of the scriptures in the iconic passage found in Matthew 22:37-39, we can see the importance of our soul’s engagement with the things of God and the things He created. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We are therefore commanded to love. 1 Peter 3:8-12 describes how love should be part of our nature: “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Loving God with our whole soul is the key to showing love toward others. Focusing on how our love for all life will be what helps our souls to thrive and be the part of us that God delights in.