Allen Raynor Weblog:
“The Essential Nature of Forgiveness” (Pt. 2)
(Dec. 17, 2018)
The world
struggles, and has always struggled, with the question of what to do with
Jesus. He is both good and bad to
them. He is good because of His love,
acceptance, kindness, etc. But He is bad
because to follow Him a person has to admit things about themselves they do not
want to admit. On one hand the world
realizes that merely receiving Jesus into their lives is not as simple as
“adding Him on” for strength, support, and satisfaction but requires a total
life change. On the other hand, they do
not want to make that total life change, but somehow see danger in spurning Him
altogether. Therefore, many try to search out and walk some sort of imaginary
middle ground path.
For Jesus to
be Lord of your life means you ask Him to take control and the world is not
really ready to totally “surrender” control to Him. People want to maintain control of their own
lives and seek their own pleasure(s). In
order to ask Jesus for forgiveness, a person has to first recognize their need for forgiveness and then ask Him for that forgiveness. No more hiding behind the tired excuse of
“Well, I think I am a pretty good person.”
An unsaved person (one still lost in his/her sins) sees themselves as
being the center of his/her own world/universe.
Jesus frees a person from that bondage to exclusive self focus!
A great
theologian was once asked what he would say to a lost human being if he only
had an hour with him to tell this person how he could have eternal life. His response was that he would spend the
first 50 minutes or so trying to convince them of their own bondage to sin and
of their own desperate condition. Then
spend the last 10 minutes presenting Jesus.
While this may seem a little strange or out of balance, the point he was
trying to make was that Jesus quickly becomes the obvious answer when people
get over that major hurdle of realizing they actually need Jesus! That is where
the real challenge lies This last Sunday
and this next Sunday will see millions and millions of Americans not in church. The simple reason is that many, if not most,
do not really see a need to be there.
The world can even display confidence in their non-attendance of
church. Confidence however, never meant
anyone was correct. We have all known
plenty of people who were “confidently” wrong.
The need for every human being is the same – to be forgiven by God.
Matthew 6:15
says “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.” We all need to
be forgiven; forgiven by God and forgiven by other people. I try to do things right, treat others right,
etc. but I fall short and still mess up.
When I do, I have to go back to people and ask their forgiveness. In doing so, I am reminded again of the many,
many things I have been forgiven for by other people, but especially by
God. The world is not preaching
forgiveness. The world is getting a
lawyer. Attorneys are advertising on
billboards, television, and radio. “Forgiveness”
does not seem to be a word that resonates well with their profession. Police officers are setting speed traps and
waiting in the wings to catch speeders to write tickets; political operatives
are working intently to dig up dirt on political enemies/opponents; scammers
are scheming and conniving as to how to bilk people out of more and more money
then to run and hide. Ironically, none
of those mentioned above want the same thing done to them as what they are
doing to others. Lawyers do not want to
be sued, policemen do not want to receive speeding tickets, political operatives
do not want dirt dug up on them, and scammers do not want to be scammed! They want to be forgiven of their indiscretions,
misdemeanors, shortcomings, or necessary measures associated with their jobs. The world does not live by the “Golden Rule”
(Mat. 7:12) The world and its attitude
reminds us of the parable Jesus taught about “The Unforgiving Servant” who was
eager to have his transgressions overlooked and be forgiven but he selfishly
wanted to hold others to the letter of the law for a comparably smaller
offense/debt. (Mat. 18:21-35)
Through the
unfolding of this parable/story, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that God’s
astounding forgiveness is the basis for all Christian forgiveness of a brother
or sister. When we keep the cross of Christ, and the forgiveness of
sin/transgressions, in the forefront of our minds it becomes much easier for us
to forgive our neighbor. We must never
quite get over the shock and awe of being forgiven of our own sins. Living day by day mesmerized by the
incomparable love of Jesus and His forgiveness of us changes everything about
how we view others. Let us remember of
Jesus “He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed
someone to wash my sins away; and now I sing a brand new song – Amazing Grace
the whole day long, Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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