Trying to Look Toward Forgiveness

You know it is getting bad when your Pastor and the social media world gang up on you on the same day; and then you see a post from the @prayerwarrior that says, “God reveals things to you for a reason. Don’t ignore what He shows you.”

So, this past Sunday my Pastor’s sermon was on “how to live in freedom in Christ” in your daily walk.  He gave us three main areas of focus to concentrate on and to work on.  I didn’t realize that he had trampled all over my tender little toes until I got home to find that the social media world had taken my whining (which was posted in jest) about early Saturday morning noise way, way too seriously.

His message began with the realities that everyone should come to, that true freedom comes in Christ, Christ alone.  As it has been said, KNOW Christ, know peace, NO Christ, no peace. Then he started talking about the three areas we, as Christians, should work on each and every day. These three areas are: Forgiveness, to Choose Up, and Do Not Judge.

The Forgiveness focus: Looking at it from the perspective of what you get, there is freedom in knowing that you are forgiven. The perspective of what you give is that there is freedom in giving your unforgiveness to God and relieving yourself of that burden.

The Choose Up focus: We should make sure that we keep our eyes on Jesus. We need to have a Godly focus, not a worldly focus. This should also include rejoicing in Christ through all situations.

The Do Not Judge focus: We need to take care of our own issues before we try to confront someone else about theirs.  We spend a lot of time acting like the Pharisees.  We should not be going around telling others “they are not doing it right.” 

So, I try to do those things… don’t I? Well, don’t I? Hummm.

That was a lot to think about.  Then after I got home, my brother was teasing me because I’d had such immediate and varied reactions to a post I made on social media about a neighbor that was mowing their yard early Saturday morning with a weed eater… the whole yard… weed eater.  I was mostly whining because most nights have been difficult lately and sleep generally comes in the early morning hours.   So as my brother was teasing me, I got aggravated all over again.

Then the Spirit revealed something to me.  I was not really irritated about the lawn being mowed with the weed eater; because when you live in a neighborhood where most everyone keeps up their lawns, you get the early morning mowing thing quite often, especially on Saturdays that are probably some people’s only time to get it done. I get it. What I realized is that I seriously do have an issue with the said neighbor and most everything they do rubs me the wrong way.  It goes back to last fall when a very serious situation could have been made much easier if they had offered to step up and help, which they chose not to do.  Yes, that is my problem. 

That was when all three of my Pastor’s points hit me smack in the face over this particular situation. Forgiveness… EEK! Choosing Up… UGH! and finally, Do Not Judge… OUCH! I’m guilty in all three areas here. I’d spoken to another friend that is a pastor about it not long ago and told them I knew it was something I needed to pray about.

Then comes in the post I read about not ignoring the things that God reveals to you. How did I get here?  I’m the one that generally finds forgiveness pretty easy.  I’ve been blessed throughout my life to be able to forgive and forget and move on. 

I realize there are so many out there that are not so blessed.  Some people live in a state of constant “unforgiveness.”  That is such a burden to carry.  I realize that my little irritation with my neighbor takes too much energy.  I’m ready to give it to God and let it be done, ready to move on. 

I think we get stuck in the area of forgiveness a little easier when we are focused more on earthly issues–such as choosing to be irritated every time you see someone.  When you are in this focus area it is difficult to rejoice, even when good things happen.  If we focus on Christ, the worldly focus dims and can fade completely out of site if we will allow it. 

And wow!  How we judge each other.  I have no idea what was going on in their life that day that would have kept them from stepping up and helping out in a situation that clearly called for help.  They may have been dealing with something even more serious that we were at the time.  I just don’t know.  I do know that God has called me to not judge other people by my standards.  How do I know that they intentionally “were not doing it right?” 

In Matthew 6:9-15, we see a very familiar passage that most people refer to as “the Lord’s Prayer.”  Verse 12 tells us to forgive as we have been forgiven.  I think we gloss over that a lot of times.  I also think we totally blank it out when verse 15 comes along: “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15 NIV) It seems pretty important to be forgiving; difficult sometimes, but important.

In the story in Numbers 21, God sent deadly serpents because of the sin of the people. God told Moses to craft a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. If the people were bitten by a serpent, they could choose to die or choose to look up and be saved. It is still the same today. We can choose to be bitten by the evil of this world and keep our focus on that evil, or we can choose to look up and be saved by Christ. Even in the difficult times, Philippians 4:4 tells us, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NIV) That means in the tough times when you are struggling to do the right thing.

One of the most humorous stories that Jesus tells is about forgiveness.  In Matthew 7, when He is warning against judging others, He says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3 NIV) How many times do we ignore our own transgressions while focusing on those of our neighbors?  Lots, I can tell you, lots. 

Forgiveness, focusing on God and being less judgmental are all three areas that are important to our representation of Christ. Each one touches our lives in a way that impacts others. My Pastor’s wrap up to his sermon was, “If we start to truly live in freedom in Christ, and begin to emulate Christ, our witness will become more solid, more believable.” Now that is the person I want to be. How about you?

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“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13 ~ New International Version)

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What is your relationship to the God of the universe? Navigating the earthly life is so much less complicated when our focus is on Him.  Do you know His Son, Jesus? There is an awesome peace that comes only from an intimate relationship with Him.  You can know Him… Jesus Christ, God’s Son, born into human flesh, sinless, crucified and giving His life freely, buried, arisen on the third day, will come into your life and change the outcome of your eternity.  You just have to be willing to believe, accept His truth and join Him on the heaven-ward path.  

Here is an excellent website that can give you additional information about making your decision for Jesus Christ! PeaceWithGod.net