The #1 Reason to Forgive

You're not perfect and you need forgiveness too.  

You'll be making mistakes too. You haven’t been accused of living the perfect life have you? Then, you're also going to need those around you to cut you some slack. That's more likely to happen if you are forgiving of them.  

We hear a lot about being a country of second chances.  
Forget second chances. We all mess up so much that we're continually needing three, four, five, six, seven chances.

That's why in the Bible when they asked Jesus how many times he should forgive their neighbor, they asked 7 times and He said no, forgive them 70 times 7! It seems like they needed more than second chances back then too.

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.  (Matthew 18:21-22)

So if you want to have great relationships for those around, you ease up. 
Give them some room to fail and when they do, forgive.  Don’t expect them to do the impossible.

That doesn't mean that if somebody does something terrible there doesn't need to be consequences. Even some times, severe consequences.  

 

However, that doesn't mean you need to hold it against them.  

You'll find this easier to do if you are someone who forgives yourself. You'll find the most rigid people are those who are unforgiving of themselves.

That’s not a good way to go through life.  
You'll always be dissatisfied, always expecting yourself to live up to a standard you have no hope of achieving.  

It's much easier to forgive yourself when you realize that God in heaven has already provided a plan of forgiveness for you. It’s available through his Son, Jesus Christ. If He will forgive, why wouldn’t you forgive yourself?

• To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
  Daniel 9:8-10
• and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
  Luke 24:46-48 
• Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
  Acts 10:42-44
• to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
  Acts 26:17-19
• In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
  Ephesians 1:6-8 

It's done.

It doesn’t you any good until you repent, ask for and accept that forgiveness, but He still has forgiven you. 

The sooner you realize that it might help you ease up a little bit on unrealistic expectations for yourself, your family, your kids, your coworkers, and your friends.  

That's the No. 1 reason to forgive others. Because you are not perfect either and God has provided forgiveness for you.

You Cannot Live in Two Worlds at the Same Time

The point: There’s no need to be frustrated in your Christian life. There is a way forward. 

Many Christians are frustrated that they aren’t moving forward in their Christian maturity. The answer can be found in the following verse.

“Not I, but Christ." (Galatians 2:20)

Any true spiritual progress that lasts must be based upon our taking sides with God against our old life. Why is this the case? 

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7)

"Enmity" knows no reconciliation; crucifixion is the only alternative!

The life of Christ is the holiness of Christ. 
The reason we so often fail in the pursuit of holiness is that the old life, the flesh, in its own strength seeks for holiness as a beautiful garment to wear and enter heaven with. It is the daily death to self out of which the life of Christ rises up. -A.W.T.

This victory can only be obtained by faith in the word of God. 
By faith we daily “crucify’ and deny the power of our of natural self and reckon ourselves alive to God. We trust the life of Christ in us to produce the growth. Daily we consciously deny ourselves and trust God to work in us. 

A tragic mistake made by thousands
In receiving Christ we receive the divine-human life, a life that is death to the life of fallen nature, which finds its fruit in sin and self. The tragic mistake of thousands of believers is in trying to live in two worlds at the same time in nature and in God, in self and in Christ, in the flesh and in the Spirit, by faith and in independence, by abiding and by effort. To have life is not enough: the life of the Lord Jesus demands the death of the flesh, if that life is to be fully developed and become fruitful in us. Here is the crux of the whole matter.

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death." (Philippians 3:10)

Our Growth comes from our constant trust in Him and not ourselves.

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Feedback: Have you experienced frustration described here in your Christian life? Has this post helped clarify the way forward for you?

Adapted from Miles Stanford’s 1-30 Spiritual Balance.

Notice Tiger Woods Coming Back?

He’s baaaaaaack!

Tiger Woods is climbing the charts again. Did you pay attention to what happened this past weekend in Australia at the PGA tour?

Greg Chambers won the The Emirates Australian Open Championship.  Finishing second was John Senden. Did you notice who finished third? Tiger Woods! He actually led the tournament for the first 2 days despite the fact that he is usually a slow starter.  ...And the next week he delivered the clinching point in the 2011 President's Cup in Melbourne, Australia by winning his singles match 4-3 over Aaron Baddelely.

It looks like Tiger’s golf game is coming back.
NO surprise to me. Soon after his disaster he started playing golf again. Pretty soon, he had fallen off the charts.

In some of the rankings he had fallen down to the 150^th player in the categories of putting and driving. At the time when people were jumping on him the worst I told my nephew, who is a mini tour player, Tiger would be back because “He’s meaner than the other guys/.”

To me, Tiger is a guy who wants it more.
It’s not that he’s better and more talented. He has developed himself more than everyone. The criticism hits him deeper. It’s not the criticism that brings him down, he just despises it. It’s not that he can’t take it, he doesn’t want to take it because he knows he doesn’t have to.  

He’s a born winner.
There’s a saying that winners win and losers lose. When you make a big blunder of course you’ve got to accept responsibility and spend some quiet time with your maker and the people involved to work things out the best you can.

But, at some point, you’ve got to work things out and get back to what you do.