Having just survived another election cycle in the U.S. we now wait during that awkward time between regimes. Some are hopeful, even exuberant, and others are bordering on despair. So it goes with every election. History is cold and hard. Kings and kingdoms rise and fall like the changing seasons.

In all of this, where do we find hope and security? Do we enthusiastically embrace each new regime as our new hope? Or cynically say there is no hope because the world is such a terrible place? Do we put our hope in our opinions about people? Or do our opinions about people crush all hope?

Whatever we decide to do, we can be sure that we are not the first to arrive at this dilemma. Putting our faith in human strength and leadership alone is an ancient temptation. We see it expressed thousands of years ago in this ancient song, Psalm 33:

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

This passage makes it clear that this is God’s world, and he is the true ruler and really — the only ruler. While kingdoms rise and fall, the plans of God stand forever. Those whose God is the Lord are blessed. But the last line in this passage deserves a bit of thought. “the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” When we read this in its historical context, it is obviously a reference to the nation of Israel. But the New Testament defines the people of God a bit differently. The Gospel has expanded the concept of the people of God beyond simple ethnicity. The people of God are now defined by faith. All believers are members of that chosen people of God now.

Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 2 and also with his illustration of the olive tree in Romans 11. The olive tree has wild and natural branches, but there is only one tree. And Peter makes this very clear by saying: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” By declaring this old covenant blessing over the church, he forever changes our concept of what it means to be the people of God and His priests.

So we are all a part of this chosen nation, this royal priesthood, by faith. This is the reality that gives us hope. Peter is not talking about a future status that we may one day achieve. He was speaking in the past tense. This is already what we are in Christ. Our future hope is now focused on the return of our king and all the nations being gathered into his new and eternal kingdom. Our hope is not in the current regime, whether good or bad, strong or weak; our hope is in God and his Son and our king, Jesus.

The king is not saved by his great army;

This Week

Let’s encourage each other as we progress through these uncertain times that our king is king forever, and His council and judgments stand forever.

Have a great week!

When help seems just beyond our reach

There are times when we hear of people having amazing experiences with God - only to find that when we try to have such an experience, the way to God seems blocked, and the help we seek is out of our reach. This was the situation of the four men in this story. They had a friend with such profound needs that they were desperate to see Jesus, believing that if they could just get into His presence, their friend would be healed. But when they arrived, they found the way blocked. These four guys are easy to overlook in this passage, so I want to examine their role in this healing and their faith that impressed Jesus so much. The story comes from the second chapter of Mark.

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together,

The Persistence of Faith

The first thing that seems clear about these four men is that they genuinely believed that Jesus not only could but would heal their friend - if they could only get their friend to Jesus. So they did the obvious thing, which was to take their friend to Jesus, but there was a problem. The way to Jesus was blocked by the masses of people surrounding Jesus. In this story, ironically, we see how people are both the means to healing and the obstacle to healing at the same time. But maybe that is another article.

However, our friends did not accept this situation and give up. Their desperation was every bit as intense as their faith. In fact, I believe that it was their faith that drove their desperation. The belief that Jesus would help them was so strong that they did not stop despite the difficulties. If you look carefully at the story, you will notice that it was the faith of the friends that Jesus was responding to. There is no mention of the paralytic’s faith. It was when Jesus saw the faith of his friends that he responded.

A Surprising Response

What is most surprising in this story is the response of Jesus. He did not immediately heal the paralyzed man, which is it seems what everyone expected. Instead, he pronounced that the man’s sins were forgiven! Did Jesus overlook the man’s greatest need? Or did He instead heal the greatest need first? One of the lessons in this story is that sin is a greater crisis than any physical infirmity. Jesus shows himself to be much more than just a healer of bodies for a time. He is a healer of souls for eternity.

Unbelief raises its ugly head

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

The Scribes knew the scriptures and understood the law. These were not inconsequential thoughts they were having. The Scribes knew that the authority to forgive belonged to God alone, and no human could simply take this authority on for themselves. Jesus was a preacher, but that did not give him the authority to forgive sins. To make such a claim was outrageous and blasphemous.

Technically, they were not wrong, but in this case, they were not dealing with an ordinary man. They were dealing with the only Son of God. Jesus was not a “son of God” in the ordinary sense that Jews, or even we, might use the term. He was entirely unique in His relationship with God. He was with God, and He was God, according to John’s Gospel. In this story, we see that unique relationship revealed. Jesus did have the authority to forgive sins because He was God. Ironically, the Scribes were right. Only God is able to forgive sins. Jesus did not argue with them on that point. He simply demonstrated His power and authority in front of them and left it to them to consider the implications of his actions.

The Reward of Persistent Faith

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,

To this point in the story, though I am sure the four friends were gratified to see their paralyzed friend forgiven by God, they still had not received what they came for, which was healing for their friend. They had gone to extreme lengths to get him into the presence of Jesus. They demonstrated great faith in the ability of Jesus to heal their friend as they broke through the roof of a stranger to get access. Their persistence had put them into the presence of Jesus, but they still had not received the blessing they came for.

As is often the case, both in this story of Jesus and in our own experiences with God, He never seems to respond exactly the way we think He should to our persistent prayers and faith. This story demonstrates why He often responds in such unexpected ways. He has something much bigger than our particular problem in mind.

Jesus could have healed with a word as He did in many other cases, and people would have been very impressed. But instead, He announces the forgiveness of God to this man, and only he and this paralytic knew what that forgiveness was for. It is possible that the faith of the friends was praised because the paralytic had none. He may have even been bitter toward God because of his affliction; who knows? If you think about this for a minute, this is actually quite plausible since the paralytic never interacts directly with Jesus. In this passage, he never speaks to his faithful friends or to Jesus. Yet Jesus forgives him, and he finds this forgiveness - because of the faithful efforts of his friends.

This is a story of persistent faith, not faith for our own benefit, but rather, faith for the benefit of others. These friends exercised their faith by putting it into extreme action. Think about it: after this was over, someone had to fix that very hospitable man’s roof! I don’t think he was anticipating damage to his house when he let Jesus and his friends in that day. The homeowner in this story is probably another whole story. We often don’t know what we are getting into when we let Jesus into our house. It is always awesome, but very often, it is also costly.

In the end, the enacted prayers of these four friends were rewarded, and their friend who had suffered so much was healed both body and soul. He was set free from the bondage of the paralysis of his body while being set free in his spirit from the paralysis of sin. Life had truly begun anew for this man. His friends, who were willing to do whatever it took, were also changed that day. They began to understand that Jesus was not just a healer and a teacher. He was so much more. Jesus is Lord! Jesus is The Lord!

So this week, let’s not calculate the cost so much that we do not act. Let’s do whatever it takes to bring our friends to Jesus with whatever afflicts them. Let’s be the faithful friend that does not give up when it gets difficult. Let’s persist in our faith both in prayer and action until we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus, where His authority and power can truly set us free from the things that paralyze us all!

Have a great week!

Every once in a while, something completely ordinary happens that sets me back on my heels and causes me to rethink everything. A few weeks ago, I had just such a moment at church.

As I was checking my phone and reading the bulletin, waiting for the service to start, I was tapped on the shoulder by a sweet older lady who asked if I would give the cup of water she had to the lady at the end of my pew. I was happy to help, so I said, sure! I slid across the pew and handed the lady the cup of water. She looked up at me like I was her long-lost friend, and said thank you, and began to drink. Immediately, I saw her eyes brighten as she straightened up in her seat. It was the thank-you that got me started. I thought — I did nothing. It was her friend from two pews back that got her the water. So, I looked back at her friend, and she thanked me as well, and I still had done nothing! I didn’t know what to think.

Pure Kindness

I had found myself in the middle of an exchange of pure kindness, and I was humbled. How did I miss the need when I was sitting three feet from it? To be fair, I didn’t know her situation as well as the lady who thought to get water, but still. To see things like this, you need to look for them, and there I sat, in church no less, oblivious to the people around me and never giving one thought to what needs they might have or what I might do to help them.

Eyes to See

It made me wonder how many times a day I walk past opportunities to help other people without even realizing it. This simple act of kindness had a power that really surprised me. Jesus once said,

For the one who is not against us is for us.

I’m not sure I ever thought about that passage much until that day. But another passage comes to mind that is even more sobering. It is found in Matthew 25.

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father,

This Week

Jesus often healed the blind. After this encounter, I felt like I was blind. This week, I am praying that Jesus will open my eyes to the people around me and allow me to see the need and where I can help. I pray we all slow down and look around with the eyes of Jesus to see the needs of others. May we all help each other to see and help each other to serve. It may be as simple as a drink of water, but a simple drink of water can be a powerful thing when given with the right heart.

Have a great week!

I have been trained in multiple evangelism techniques over the years, and although I am not a gifted evangelist, I try. It has become clear to me over the years that my work and gifts function better in the second wave than in the first. I am most effective when I follow evangelists and teach the new, the young, and the immature what the bible says and how to interpret it correctly. My goal is to teach them how to read it through the eyes of the author and the original audience and then apply that truth today.

Evangelism always seemed to be about convincing people to believe. However, there are times in the bible when it seems that Jesus was not really trying to convince people as much as to offer them the truth and ask them to follow. To illustrate what I am saying, let’s look at a couple of typical instances of Jesus interacting with would-be followers.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,

To Follow or Walk

In both of these stories, the similarities jump out at me more than their differences. In both cases, they had lives, jobs, and possessions. Yet, Peter and Andrew walked away from their possessions(and family), and the second young man walked away from Jesus, even though this unnamed young man was actually given better promises than Peter and Andrew.

Let’s think about this from the standpoint of Jesus first. In both cases, Jesus did not try to coerce them. He simply invited them. It seems Jesus did this a lot. Some followed him, and some did not. However, Jesus did not shape his message or his ministry based on the results of any one individual. He obeyed his Father, spoke the truth, and walked on. People either followed or walked away.

As a teacher and a missionary, I find this challenging. So many forces are constantly trying to push you in one direction or another. You have literal crying needs constantly tearing at your heart. You have people back home expecting specific “results” pulling in another direction. Then, you have your own insecurities as a human being pulling at you in yet another direction. Your ego wants its own results. Finally, you have your most basic human desires, wanting nothing more than to sit on the porch with an iced tea and play with your grandkids. In the middle of all this noise, you have Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, asking you to simply follow him.

The question is, will I follow or walk away? We all make this decision many times a day as we walk along. It’s challenging to follow Jesus, but when we walk with Jesus, we never walk alone. What’s more, as we walk with him, we learn that most of our fears are baseless. Jesus miraculously supplies the strength we fear that we lack.

So, what makes a person cling to their possessions while another walks away? Only the one being asked to follow can really answer that question. Are rich people really more attached to their possessions than poor people? I’ve never been rich, so I don’t know, but I have been poor, and I don’t remember any urge to dump what little I had.

So what is it — really— that holds us back? Is it the urge to control our own lives? That feels most likely, if I’m honest. Is it that I don’t actually trust God? Am I struggling to believe God loves me and wants what’s best for me? Or do I believe that if I need it, I will have to get it myself? That “grab it if you want it” attitude didn’t work out too well for Adam and Eve. Life, at its core, really is basic. The choice is the same as it has always been ever since Eden. Trust in God’s love or walk away and try to grab it for ourselves.

The Body of Christ and Following

My first point was personal and individual. My second point is more about our collective ministry as the body of Christ. As the body of Christ, we are the physical manifestation of Jesus on the earth today.

What is our message and our method? Is it the method of Jesus? It should be if we are his body. Do we demonstrate the truth and invite people to join us? Or do we threaten and coerce with fear and reward? Do we look for ways to demonstrate the love of God, or do we look for ways to demonstrate our political power? Do we point to Jesus as the answer, or do we point to the government as the answer? God’s power or human desire and effort? Put in these extreme terms, these questions may not even seem fair. But is this extreme, or is it fairly accurate? I think about this a lot. We should all think carefully about how we handle the gifts and opportunities that God has given us.

The history of the Church is and has been deeply colored with human error. Today is no different. However, throughout history, there have always been those who simply follow Jesus, loving each other and showing the love of God to a world that does not know what love truly is and inviting others to follow along the way of Jesus.

The Body of Christ has succumbed to the temptation of using compulsion and coercion many times in the past, using slick marketing, fear, threats, or even co-opting political power to get people to comply. Sometimes well intended and sometimes not, but all of those times are black eyes for the Body of Christ as we look back. We must follow, and as the current Body of Christ, we must demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God and simply invite people to join us, just as Jesus did. Some will follow, and some will not, and we need to be OK with that. We must learn to trust God with the outcome of the truth and our love.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. To follow him is to follow in his ways. This week, we will not change the world, but we can change our world and the lives of those in our world by following Jesus when he calls. Then, as we follow, we can invite those we meet to follow along with us.

Join me this week as we prepare our hearts to drop what we are doing when Jesus calls and simply follow.

Have a great week!

Think back to a time in your life when Jesus was close, his truth was clear in your mind, and your heart was searching for more ways to love him and others. Maybe it was a time of transition: a new faith, a new spouse, a new child, a new town, a new church, a new job. It was a time of seemingly endless possibility. God was close and on His throne.

Was that time nothing more than misinterpreted emotion? Skeptics would say yes, definitely, but for millennia, believers would answer and say — partly. However, God is always on His throne, and He is never far away. That is just a brute fact. It is our circumstances and our emotions that have altered our perception of this reality. Our circumstances and feelings change constantly. God does not. This brings me to today’s topic. How do we stay faithful to the end when our feelings do not always match our expectations? How do we finish well?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Witnesses?

Before we get started, who or what is this “cloud of witnesses?” Unsurprisingly, there are many opinions on this. Some would say that the saints that have gone on before us are watching over us and helping us. Some would say this refers to the angels. But I think the more obvious reading is to assume that this cloud of witnesses refers to all the faithful people of the past the author just finished listing in the previous chapter, people who remained faithful whether they saw their desired outcome in their lifetime — or not.

Lay aside every weight

So, using the faithfulness of those who have gone before us as an example, let’s lay aside the things that hinder our faith and growth in the Lord. So, what are those things that hold us back from fully following the Lord — wherever He may lead? What do we desire that makes us hesitant even to ask Jesus what He would have us do at this moment? Do we follow Jesus? Or do we use Jesus to achieve our own desires? These are difficult questions that only we can and must answer for ourselves. But as painful as they may be, they are important questions if we want to finish the race well.

The sin which clings so closely

Now, we come to the topic of besetting sins. The ESV translates this as the “sin which clings so closely,” whereas most other translations (I think more correctly) translate this as the sin which so easily “entangles” or “besets” us. We all know about these sins. We all have them. They are the sins that we seem particularly vulnerable to. The sins that are the hardest to leave behind. They are familiar sins we have struggled with so long we may even try to write them off as, “the way I am.” But they have to go, and by the grace of God, they can be defeated.

Running to Jesus

To finish well, we must leave all of these things behind and look to Jesus. The routine of life often dulls our sense of urgency. If things are going well, we often make the mistake of thinking we are doing well spiritually. But when we closely examine ourselves, it is obvious that superficial judgments of this sort are very misleading, either for good or bad. Our external circumstances are a very poor mirror of our spiritual health. When things are going well, our pride congratulates our efforts, and when things are going wrong, our unbelief wants to condemn us and deny God.

The only way to stay faithful to the end is to follow Jesus, who was faithful through fame, shame, betrayal, and the cross. Jesus did not judge his obedience based on how things were working out or how he felt. He walked the road of obedience wherever it led. And it ultimately led him to glory.

This Week

We can help each other this week. We can help each other see what really matters in life and encourage each other to walk the way of Jesus. We can help each other with those things that hold us back and trip us up. In Christ, we can be faithful to God, come what may. We can take heart in knowing that in Jesus, our sacrifice is not for nothing. Our reward is in Jesus, and we will reign with Him forever — if we follow Him now.

Have a great week!

The question, “Why is the world so evil?” has challenged us all at one point or another. War snaps this question into laser-sharp focus. Talking about war from a safe distance is one thing. Talking to those whose home is no longer a part of their country is another. Discussing the politics of the war gives no comfort as people bow on the street in honor and prayer as yet another funeral procession passes.

People look for peace, prosperity, and meaning in this life, but such things never last in this world. The kings of this age will not bring us lasting peace. But there is a king who has and will.

 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

Love and war, tribulation and peace seem impossible to reconcile. But Jesus tells us that in this age — in this world, we will have both — in Him. The kingdom of God has begun but is not yet fully realized. We are in His new kingdom, so we know its peace, at least in part. Yet, the world around us is still governed by ancient evil principles. The seeds of evil produce only evil. It’s simply the nature of things. However, Jesus tells us that the kingdom is also a seed. It may be a tiny seed, but it will grow into a large plant.

All things were made through him,

There is a lot of darkness in this world, but darkness can not overcome the light. The love of Jesus was abused, and this world attempted to extinguish it altogether. But the darkness neither understands nor can it destroy the light. The more love is abused, the brighter it shines, by contrast.

Love is — benefiting others at my expense.

Love can be resisted and ignored, but it cannot be destroyed. It can only be glorified.

War brings both evil and love into sharp contrast. While I see a lot of evil, I am not depressed because I have seen so much love rise in the face of it. I am watching people choose to put themselves in harm’s way to love those who are suffering. Love and war are opposites, but love is stronger than war. Wars end, love never ends. Kingdoms rise and fall, but the kingdom of God endures forever.

Jesus is our light and the source of our hope.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,

But in Matthew, Jesus talked about the light of the world in a very different way.

“You are the light of the world.

During my visit to Ukraine, I have seen both the light of the world and the darkness of this present world. I have seen the tribulations of this age and the hope of the age to come.

This week, let’s all encourage each other with a hope that transcends politics and human government. We have a better king and kingdom than any the world could offer. Our hope is not in our strength but in the power of God’s love in Christ. And it is that same power in us that gives us the strength to press forward when it seems all hope is lost. That same power in us gives us love when the world gives us hate. This week, let’s show the world that there is a better kingdom. Let’s give of ourselves for someone else’s benefit. This week, let’s remind each other that we are the light of the world now, and the darkness will not overcome the light.

Have a great week!

There are times when the reality of my fragile, tiny, and helpless condition snaps into clear focus. This week has been one of those times for me. As we pack to go to the other side of the world, the realization of all that can go wrong at any time overwhelms me. So I pray, and as I pray, I am overwhelmed with another thought: the realization that God, the creator and source of all things, communicates with me. He knows my name and cares about me. And I realize in those moments that walking with Him poses no danger at all. My life and death are in His hands every moment.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

As I pray and ponder just who I am praying to, I realize that if God were to answer me in full, I would never be able to contain or understand His answer.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

When I think of these things, my mind goes to Psalm 139.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

We play with our phones, drive cars, and marvel at our own brilliance. But not one of us can guarantee our next breath. We ask great questions and write thick books, but like Job, not one of us could understand the answer if God gave it to us straight. Even in Heaven, the universal response is awe and worship. We do not now, nor will we ever fully comprehend the God who is the source, the creator, and most importantly for us, the redeemer of sinful humanity. We are and will be, forever out of our depth.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth

This Week

This week, let’s all take time every day to simply stop. Stop worrying, stop thinking about what is next, and allow the sheer majesty of God to overwhelm us. In my experience, problems of all sorts rearrange themselves or even disappear into God’s overwhelming greatness. Being out of our depth is not a problem of Christianity. It’s the most beautiful part!

Have a great week!

Today, I am going to discuss a passage that even unbelievers like to quote—or, as we will see, misquote. It is a powerful passage that tells us a lot about God’s love and our response to it. This is part of a longer passage where Jesus explains how we are to love those who can do nothing to help us, to give with no thought of repayment, and even to love our enemies. Today, I will focus on three verses from this longer teaching from Luke 6.

But love your enemies, and do good,

Showing kindness and generosity toward all, even our enemies, is not an outrageous and burdensome command. In this passage, we see that we are to do all of these things to reflect who God is to the world. God is generous and loving to all, even those who hate him. Jesus even forgave those who were killing him. We are to be sons of the Most High. We are to be like our Father.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

To understand these two verses, it is helpful to think about Biblical poetry. Read this teaching as you would Proverbs, and the parallel repetitions will help you understand what Jesus is trying to say. We have all heard people say, “Judge not!” when they really mean, “Shut up and mind your own business.” But when we take these parallelisms together, we see a different picture. The passage begins and ends with the mercy of God. God is merciful. We are to show mercy if we want to have mercy shown to us. To put it more clearly, we must reflect the mercy God has given us to others.

The two couplets, “judge and condemn” and “forgive and give,” are paired together to help us understand these two ideas. The judgment Jesus is forbidding is not discernment or discretion but rather the condemnation of others. That is not to say we should not speak to others about their sin. Remember, the main message Jesus and the disciples preached was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is a recognition that only God is the final judge, and we all stand or fall by His mercy.

We can’t take God’s mercy for ourselves and deny it to others. This brings us to the last line. “For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” There is an unmistakable justice in the system of mercy. We must forgive as we have been forgiven. We must show mercy as we have been shown mercy. We will be measured with the same ruler we use on others.

This Week

Our correction of others must always be with their best interest in mind. Not flippant condemnation intended to harm them while making ourselves feel superior. Once again, love is the answer. Love is — benefiting others at my expense. It is what God has done for us. It is what Jesus gave us on the cross. And, it is what we must give each other. To know love, we must show love. To know mercy, we must show mercy. To know forgiveness, we must forgive.

Let’s help each other with a generous attitude this week. Knowing that the more we give, the more we will be given. We are truly rich in God’s mercy. We can afford to be generous to others.

Have a great week!

The first lesson every Christian learns, and we have to learn it before we can even be a Christian, is that I am evil at the core, and it is my fault. I am not only wicked but helpless to change in any significant way. I can’t fix the things I have broken. I can’t undo the things I have done. I can’t “unoffend” God or anyone else I have offended or hurt. At our best, we cover it up with culturally acceptable behaviors, but the evil is always there, the guilt is genuine, and deep down, we all know it. Until we accept this fact, we are not ready for the gospel.

The gospel is good news, but only if you first accept the bad news. For all those who live in denial, the gospel is an irritating reminder of the inner evil they are desperately trying not to think about. The gospel is about justice and mercy, and justice is about balance. You steal 10 dollars, and you pay back 10 dollars plus something for the pain you caused. Justice is not vengeance, and it is not equality. Justice is everyone getting exactly what they deserve. The guilty never cry out for justice. They cry out for mercy. We are all guilty. We need mercy. But if we all get mercy, what happens to justice? Simply saying that evil does not matter is evil. Can a just God do that?

How can a just God simply declare that evil does not matter? The answer is, of course, He can’t. But here’s the problem: God is both just and merciful, a seemingly hopeless contradiction. Justice demands payment, but those in need of mercy are broke. We can’t pay our debt because everything we are and have come from God in the first place. At best, we could only return to Him a small portion of what He has already given us. Since humanity was doomed in this scenario, God became human and paid the price for human evil. God paid the demands of justice himself so that He could offer mercy freely to all who would humble themselves and ask. And so God, through Christ, has forgiven us.

We are Forgiven! Now what?

The short answer is that we must now forgive others freely and from our hearts.

We must forgive in the same way we have been forgiven.

Consider this well-known passage in this light:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

We have all heard that we must forgive others, but how we forgive others is talked about much less. What does it even mean to say, “I forgive you,” and how do you know if you have fully forgiven someone?

First, if we think of sin as debt, then forgiveness marks that debt as paid in full. Think for a moment about how you feel when someone has wronged you. You want payback. You want to make them pay for what they have done to you. Forgiveness is refusing payment. It is marking that debt as paid. Forgiveness sets the debtor free in the same way that Jesus paid our debt and released us.

Forgiveness does not begin with a feeling. Forgiveness is a choice and a commitment to release the offender from their obligation. When hurt or offended, our feelings often need to follow our actions rather than direct them. When Jesus was being tortured to death on the cross, his decision to forgive those who were killing him did not flow from his feelings. They were actively mocking him and murdering him at the time. Yet, he asked God to forgive them because they did not understand what they were doing. He did the right thing despite his feelings, not because of them. He cared for their eternal well-being more than he cared for his feelings at that moment. He made a conscious decision to place our good before his own.

However, there is more to forgiveness than just doing the right thing. Later in Matthew, Jesus also asks us to forgive others from our hearts. We are to forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven us. How do we do that? Good question.

Years ago, as I struggled with this, God led me to a verse that I thought was very odd and, at first glance, not very helpful. After all, the verse was about money, and I didn’t see what it had to do with love and forgiveness. This verse is found in Matt 6:19-21:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As you can see, Jesus was talking about money, but he was really talking about the way our hearts work. When I realized this, the light bulbs slowly started to flicker on. When it dawned on me that my heart followed my treasure, I realized how I could begin to feel more concern and empathy for others. I needed to invest my treasure in them. And my treasure, the thing I value most, is not my money; it is my time and energy.

Let’s Review

We must forgive because we have been forgiven. Our forgiveness should naturally flow from our gratitude to God for His mercy toward us. We must forgive even when the pain clouds our gratitude because love demands we seek the other’s benefit at our expense. This is the way God showed His love toward us, and this is how we must show our love toward others. As we give of ourselves to benefit others, even those who have hurt us, our hearts will begin to feel again. Our world will begin, over time, to grow beyond our pain. We will no longer be the center of our world, but we will live in a much larger world, a world where God is the center and the love of others is our motivation.

This Week

This week, let’s write off any remaining bad debt. When we find our thoughts frozen on old offenses, we know it’s time to get out the rubber stamp marked paid in full. Let’s set some prisoners free this week in the same way that Jesus set us free. Don’t ask yourself to forget. Ask yourself to forgive. I’m sure Jesus still remembers the cross. But I am also sure he has forgiven us. Let’s love even our enemies this week by finding ways to help them, investing our treasure into those whom Jesus died for.

Have a great week!

I have talked about the Kingdom of God often on this podcast. Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God a lot as well. But Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in the same way he taught about most things — indirectly. He gave parables, metaphors, and similes about the Kingdom and what it’s like but never really said what it is. Let’s start with one of my favorites from the Sermon on the Mount.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying,

In this short teaching, Jesus teaches us what the Kingdom of God is not. It is not what we eat, drink, or wear. We will receive all those things from God if we seek His Kingdom before all else.

But What is a Kingdom?

The English word gives us a clue. A Kingdom is that which is under the domain or rule of a king. So, to seek the Kingdom of God is to actively seek His rule on earth. It begins with each of us seeking to follow and obey God as King. But Kingdoms are more than land. Kings rule over people. Like a city, a kingdom is a group of people first and foremost.

The people Jesus spoke to were early first-century Jews and would have been thinking all kinds of political and national thoughts when they heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God. They believed that God, through the long-prophesied son of David, was about to fulfill those ancient prophecies and glorify Israel above all the nations of the earth. Many of those who followed Jesus believed him to be that messianic son of David. But when you look carefully at what Jesus said about the Kingdom, was restoring Israel to power really what he was describing? Or was it something else, something bigger?

While Jesus was on the earth preaching the Kingdom, he taught that he was the way, the truth, and the life. Finding faith in him was finding life itself. He sent his disciples out with the same task: to announce the Kingdom and lead people to faith in Jesus. Seeking the Kingdom has both a personal aspect and a corporate aspect. We must seek the Kingdom for ourselves, but when we find it, we must tell others. Consider the following verses:

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

These stories teach us two important truths.

* We must seek the Kingdom and find the Kingdom no matter the cost.

* We must share what we have found so that all may see it and glorify God.

How do we “seek first the Kingdom of God?”

We do this by show and tell. Consider the following statements of Jesus.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:

And Jesus came and said to them,

This Week

Rather than trying to argue people into the Kingdom this week, let’s all do our best to show them the Kingdom by loving each other and sharing the love of Jesus with those who still don’t know or believe. This week, let’s seek the righteousness of God’s Kingdom more than anything else this world might use to entice us and allow His love to overflow us to others.

Have a great week!