{"id":19535,"date":"2020-02-08T08:24:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T13:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=19535"},"modified":"2020-02-08T08:38:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T13:38:34","slug":"forgive-of-course-its-what-i-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/forgive-of-course-its-what-i-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgive? Of course! It’s what I do."},"content":{"rendered":"

Freely you have received; freely give.\u00a0 –Matthew 10:8<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Watson was complimenting Sherlock Holmes on a brilliant observation no one else had noticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d Holmes remarked. \u201cIt\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forgiveness and grace\u2014that\u2019s what we believers do.<\/p>\n

Here is one page from Ruth Bell Graham\u2019s 1989 book, \u201cLegacy of a Pack Rat,\u201d with a parenthetical, explanatory remark of my own.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone has said, \u2018If there had not been a Stephen, there might never have been a Paul.’\u201d<\/em> (Paul watched Stephen being stoned to death for nothing more than preaching Jesus. As the stones beat the life from him, with his dying breath, Stephen prayed, \u201cLord, do not charge them with this sin.\u201d –Acts 7:60 Paul never recovered from seeing this good man die.)<\/p>\n

\u201cA tribal war was raging in Uganda. The soldiers led a line of prisoners to a bridge over a crocodile-infested river where they could shoot them and dump their bodies into the water for the crocodiles to dispose of.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong the prisoners that day was a young Christian. When his turn came to be shot, he asked permission to say a word first. \u2018Make it quick,\u2019 his captors ordered. The young man looked at them calmly, without fear.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I am a Christian,\u2019 he said. \u2018I am not angry with you, for the same Jesus Whom I shall see in a few moments died for you as well. I forgive you. May you accept His forgiveness also.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey shot him. Turning to the next in line, they recognized a man from another tribe. \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 they demanded. \u2018We are not at war.\u2019 And he was abruptly dismissed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut that young man was never the same again. He spent the rest of his life sharing his<\/em> new discovery of the risen, transforming Savior.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe had watched a Christian die.\u201d (Page 211)<\/em><\/p>\n

As followers of Jesus Christ, you and I are not perfect, only forgiven. After receiving God\u2019s grace, we are sent into the world to bless others. We do this by extending our own forgiveness and love to those who might otherwise deserve censure and condemnation.<\/p>\n

Anyone can exclude and condemn; grace includes. Grace surprises.<\/p>\n

Scripture establishes two standards for the forgiveness Christians offer to others–:<\/strong><\/p>\n

–1) As Christ has forgiven us. (Ephesians 4:32 and Colossians 3:13)<\/p>\n

If Jesus has cut corners and hedged on His forgiveness to us, we may do the same to others. However, Colossians 2:11-15 gives a long list of what His forgiveness accomplished.<\/p>\n

–2) As we want God to forgive us. (Matthew 6:12 and Luke 11:4)<\/p>\n

We get to decide. We just have to figure out to what extent we want to be forgiven for our sins, and then do the same to others. Nothing could be simpler.<\/p>\n

\u2013if you will, He will. Matthew 6:14<\/p>\n

\u2013if you don\u2019t, He won\u2019t. Matthew 6:15<\/p>\n

The channel through which we receive grace and forgiveness from God is the same one through which we extend it to others. If we clog it up by refusing to forgive others, no further forgiveness will be forthcoming for ourselves.<\/p>\n

If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.<\/p>\n

Among the most inexplicable traits of humans that surely must exasperate the Lord is our unwillingness to give to others what Christ has so freely extended to us. Jesus told of a fellow who was relieved of an astronomical debt, but who then had a man arrested for an outstanding debt of a few dollars (Matthew 18:21-35).\u00a0 The human heart is constantly setting new records for harshness and blazing fresh trails for callousness.<\/p>\n

Oxymoron: An unforgiving Christian<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPastor, I\u2019d like you to pray for my brother.\u201d Sitting in my office, Leslie told of his brother going off to do military service years earlier. Something happened during his absence that caused the brother to sever the relationship with all family members except his mother. \u201cWe never knew what it was,\u201d Leslie said. \u201cHe has refused to \u00a0take our phone calls and our letters are returned unopened.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said I would pray for God to break the heart of his brother and save him. He said, \u201cBut Pastor \u2014 my brother is a deacon in that Baptist church where you preached recently.\u201d I was stunned.<\/p>\n

I told him, \u201cI cannot tell you whether your brother is saved or not, but I do know this. Your brother has not had a prayer answered since he was in the service.\u201d<\/p>\n

To forgive is to absorb the debt incurred by the other. \u201cJesus paid it all,\u201d we sing in church.<\/p>\n

John Ortberg tells of a young IBM executive who lost ten million dollars in a risky business venture. He was called into the office of the legendary Thomas Watson, the founder and head of IBM for forty years. \u201cI guess you\u2019ve called me in for my resignation,\u201d the young man said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere it is. I resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson said, \u201cYou must be joking. I just invested ten million dollars educating you; I can\u2019t afford your resignation!\u201d<\/p>\n

He who forgives pays. Maybe that\u2019s why we find forgiveness so difficult.<\/p>\n

God in Heaven looks at you at me, sinners all, and said, \u201cI just invested Calvary in you; I can\u2019t afford your resignation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)<\/em><\/p>\n

God has too much invested in us to stop now.<\/p>\n

\u201cForgiveness is God\u2019s invention for coming to terms with a world in which people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other.\u201d (Lewis B. Smedes, quoted in \u201cLove Beyond Reason,\u201d by John Ortberg, 1998)<\/p>\n

The only thing we have to offer the world they can\u2019t get anywhere else is grace.<\/p>\n

When we fail to offer grace, our sin is enormous, our Lord is betrayed, and our own hearts shrivel.<\/p>\n

Help us, Lord, to get this right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freely you have received; freely give.\u00a0 –Matthew 10:8 Dr. Watson was complimenting Sherlock Holmes on a brilliant observation no one else had noticed. \u201cOf course,\u201d Holmes remarked. \u201cIt\u2019s what I do.\u201d Forgiveness and grace\u2014that\u2019s what we believers do. Here is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forgiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19535"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19541,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535\/revisions\/19541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}