Forgiveness

Chris Ward, Campus Director for LHM Houston

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35 (NLT)

On Monday morning, October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Pennsylvania. Thirty-two-year-old Charles Roberts ordered the boys and the teacher to exit, leaving ten frightened girls in the room. After tying their legs, he prepared to shoot them execution style with an automatic rifle and four-hundred rounds of ammunition.

The oldest hostage, a thirteen-year-old girl, begged the man to, “shoot me first and let the little ones go.” Refusing her offer, he opened fire on all of them, killing five and leaving the others critically wounded. He then shot himself as police stormed the building. 

This story captured the attention of broadcast and print media in both the United States and around the world. The blood was barely dry on the schoolhouse floor when Amish parents brought words of forgiveness to the family of the gunman. The outside world couldn’t believe that such forgiveness could be offered so quickly for such a heinous crime.

In the media, the topic of forgiveness dominated discussions about the massacre. Forgiveness, in fact, was talked about more than the tragic event itself, with Amish forgiveness the central theme in more than 2,400 news stories around the world. Fresh from the burial of their own children, grieving Amish families accounted for half of the seventy-five people who attended the killer’s funeral. The widow of the killer was deeply moved by their presence as Amish families greeted her and her three children. The forgiveness went beyond talk and graveside presence; the Amish also supported a fund for the shooter’s family.

 “[Forgiveness,] all the religions teach it,” said an observer, “but no one does it like the Amish.”

When Jesus delivers his teaching on love in John 13, he simultaneously offers an important lesson on forgiveness. He sets his own love as the example for us to follow, with him later stating, “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13 NLT) Jesus lives out this sacrificial love through his crucifixion. When Jesus hung on that cross and died for you and me, he canceled our debt, provided a way to be forgiven, and offers us the power to do the same, to cancel the debt of those who have hurt us.

As a Follower of Christ, unforgiveness begins with a simple statement: I refuse to give to others what God has given to me. When we say this in our minds, we out rightly deny the teaching of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32 NLT) While we must be sure to maintain healthy boundaries with those around us, harboring unforgiveness in our hearts will only lead to bitterness, which Luke links with being “captive to sin” in Acts 8:23. (NIV) We can begin to practice forgiveness in the following way:

     1. Identify the person who has hurt us.

     2. Determine what we expect of them to make things right.

     3. Understand that even if they never make things right, we must cancel their debt.

      

Who do you need to forgive? What hurts have you let fester in your heart and develop into bitterness? Are you willing to come to Jesus and give him all of the wounds that you have held onto? Jesus gives us a simple command with huge implications to change the world: “Love each other.” (Jn. 13:34 NLT)

Where Do You Stand?

By Samuel Parrish, Campus Director, LH Charleston, SC

"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 ESV)

When the enemy has beaten you down with the same sin strongholds for decades, when the flesh will not relent from offering a seemingly unending fountain of desires, when the world continually offers up unending opportunities to choose something other than God’s best, Paul’s teaching that indicates God will always “provide the way of escape” from temptation can sound more like a fairy tale than the gift of the Holy Spirit. For those of us who have been walking with Jesus with regularity, these verses can even become so cliché that they actually serve to help us discount the dangers of sin and temptation rather than keep us from falling. Within the context of his letter, we see that Paul intends to do more than share a great word of comfort to those burdened by sin. Instead, he calls the complacent to not merely walk in the protection and blessing of the Holy Spirit, but to overcome sin by the power of the cross.

To drive home this point, Paul begins this section of the letter by reminding the Corinthian church of the journey Israel took from captivity in Egypt to the Promised Land. Beginning with the account of Moses parting the Red Sea so that Israel could escape through the waters on dry land, Paul reminds his readers of how God repeatedly provided for both the physical and spiritual needs of His people, feeding them with manna—or “bread from heaven”—and twice bringing water forth from a rock. Additionally, God physically joined them on this journey, allowing His children to rest securely in the shadow of the pillar of fire at night while simultaneously receiving direction by following the cloud during the day.

And yet, there were those who experienced these blessings, but did not follow Him as Lord. They turned to sexual immorality when Moses spoke with God on the mountain. They turned to grumbling when God’s sustaining grace became mundane. They turned to disbelief when they saw the “power” and “strength” of the people inhabiting the land God promised them. Because of their choice of fear over faith, the Lord judged the entire generation, prolonging their time in the desert forty years.

Paul’s text says plainly that his words were recorded for our instruction. We, as those who live on this side of God’s work on the cross, stand to make the same kind of mistakes as the people of Israel. Paul warns that these errors can be just as costly for us as they were for God’s people thousands of years ago. We are cautioned to take care and search for the “way of escape” God provides whenever tempatations come our way. Thus, we are not passive in the process of our sanctification. Instead, as God grants us the faith to believe in him, and the grace to obey him, we have the responsibility to follow His commands.

Paul continues in the chapter with a command for us to “flee from idolatry.” His verb choice in this command—φεύγω, or a legal term meaning to run in order to save one’s life—reveals that our sin is not simply a bad habit we hope to grow out of. Rather, it is an enemy to flee, albeit a defeated enemy. Because of Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the dead, we can stand confidently as long as we stand on the truths of who we are in Him. We do not have to fear sin and temptation because we know He will never leave us or forsake us.

As you pray this week, ask the Lord to show you where your confidence stands. Are you resting merely on His blessings, or on an identity named and shaped by God? When has He sustained you in a way you never expected?  What two specific aspects of that experience can you use to remember his goodness in the future?