Turn Life Inside-Out

The difference between living inside-out and living outside-in is one of the most important truths taught by Christ, and one that is immeasurable in its value to us and impact on our lives.  Before you start thinking I am talking about turning your clothing so that the tags show and the seams are ragged, let me explain what I mean.

                                                     

To live outside-in means to allow those things of the “world” – whether it be circumstances, the actions or words of other people, or the enemy – to flow into you and determine your choices and your feelings.  Most people live outside-in.  They are preoccupied with what others think of them – approval-junkies – or with what circumstances are doing “to” them – viewing themselves as victims.  Their choices and feelings are “tossed to and fro by every wave that comes along.”  They do not stand on solid ground.  Things other than God in their hearts have power over them.  As a result, they live in fear – fear of what others are thinking of them or doing to them, fear of what unknown circumstances and what those circumstances might do to them, and fear of making their own choices for fear of choosing poorly.  Outside-in living is a very unhealthy, empty, hopeless, and powerless way to live.

Visualize yourself standing beside the sea holding a fishing net.  You toss your net out into the “sea” (the symbol for the worldly view throughout Scripture) and haul in what you believe will be good things – perhaps you are seeking to bring in trout or salmon, something you can “eat” (receive in your heart) that will fill you up.  But as you try to bring in the good fish, you also collect up seaweed, jellyfish, and maybe even a shark, eel, or stingray.  Suddenly, the unexpected “catch” begins to fill you with nastiness, to sting you, or even to consume you.  This is a picture of outside-in living.  Whatever is in the world comes in with your net when you bring the external world into your heart. 

Contrast this with inside-out living.  This type of life begins with a focus on the presence of Jesus in our hearts.  Through His presence, we can know His love for us, and we can know who He says we are.  These truths create our solid ground on which we stand.  From those truths then can flow the love of Christ from our hearts out into the world.  As a result, the opinions of others carry no weight – only the truth of Christ informs our choices.  The actions of others have no power over us because those actions or beliefs cannot change who we are in Christ.  Circumstances also carry no power to change who we are, or to undermine the truth Jesus has brought to our hearts.  Circumstances become no more than a setting in which to have our relationship with Jesus.  All power beyond the strength and power of the love of Christ is no more.  Others are no longer able to determine how you feel (about yourself or in general). No one is able to dictate your choices.  Inside-out living is living in true freedom. 

In this scenario, Jesus fills your heart.  He is the One Who feeds you, completes you, and makes you whole.  As He stated, He is the bread of life: “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Then out of your heart flows His love, and you become a “fisher of people” instead of a taker from people. 

In Matthew 5, Jesus teaches us about our hearts when we are living inside-out.  If we live as Christ lives, doing only what we see Christ doing, the results are living beyond our limited capacity to love on our own.  Only then can we truly love our enemies; only through inside-out living are we able to surpass the Pharisees; only through oneness with Jesus, connection in our hearts with Him making us whole, can we be “complete” or “perfected” as the Father is perfect.  

Lessons from a Puppy Dog

We recently adopted a 2 year old Maltese mix from the Atlanta Humane Society – a rescue dog from a very bad situation.  Watching his responses, particularly to my husband, David, has been very educational about our attitudes toward God, and about how we create our own consequences by our choices based in fear.

For example, rather than allow David to take him out for his walk, he would cower in his kennel and wait for me to get home, causing him both physical and emotional discomfort.  This behavior was not based on anything he had experienced from David, but was instead based on past experiences with a male or males who were unkind to him.  He transferred his fear based on those past experiences onto David, whom he assumes will treat him the same way.  He hadn’t tried to get to know David, nor has he tested out his assumption.  He was reacting totally based on his own fear and his false belief about David.

This reminds me of how, not knowing God and not knowing what to expect from Him, we will self-protect and try to “hide” ourselves out of fear.  Jesus stands there offering us love, comfort, and provision, and we run and hide in our version of our “kennel” or “safety” zone, thinking we are our own provider, and our own protector.  When we do this, we cheat ourselves, just as the little dog was doing, out of what Jesus has for us – His love, His presence.  We cause ourselves our own discomfort, struggle and pain as we choose this, all the while thinking we are keeping ourselves safe somehow.  It is very self-defeating, exactly like what I witnessed the dog doing to himself.

Another striking example occurred when David was making himself lunch, and accidently dropped a piece of turkey on the kitchen floor.  The puppy dog could smell the turkey, but it was too near to where David was standing for him to be willing to “risk” going to get it.  So as a result he denied himself a special treat.  Seeing what was happening, David even moved away from the piece of turkey, hoping the dog would come and get it if he was not in the way.  Even then, the dog was too afraid; simply the fact that David HAD been there was enough to keep him from going after that delicious piece of turkey – something he would have loved to have, and something he normally would not receive (we don’t feed our dogs table scraps).  His fear and his belief denied him that special moment.

This too seemed very similar to how we cheat ourselves out of God’s good gifts by staying away from Him.  He offers to be a wonderful comfort for us.  He “drops” gifts of love and kindness and caring and support for us all the time – but we keep our distance and rob those special moments from ourselves.  We have nothing to lose, but we won’t “risk” getting close enough to Jesus to find out that He has only good for us.

David’s actions toward the dog reminded me of God’s response to us as well.  David discovered that the puppy dog really likes bacon treats, so he started carrying around bits of bacon, hoping the dog would get comfortable with him and eventually not be afraid of him.  Knowing the dog was too scared to receive the gift, David patiently dropped the pieces of bacon on the floor by the dog’s kennel.  David has done this now for several weeks, and some minor progress has been made as now the puppy will take the treat from David’s hand at times.  But I watched with some amazement as, even after several weeks and the dog having experienced the yumminess of the bacon many times, David, while standing in the kitchen, tried to give the dog his special treat, but as long as David was standing up, the puppy would not take the treat from him.  If David sat down, then and only then would the dog receive the special gift.

This part of my observation reminds me of how patient God is with us, and how willing He is to meet us where we are.  Just like David, He goes out of His way to bring His love to our very door.  He never forces Himself on us, but is always willing to give freely to us, even as we run and hide from Him.  It also reminds me so much of all of us and how we respond to God.  Jesus stands with arms open wide, offering Himself, His love, His comfort, and His good gifts to us. But we refuse those gifts based on our fear, denying ourselves what He is offering freely and lovingly, or we establish conditions for God to meet under which we will consider giving Him a chance.  As a result, we never learn that He is not Who we imagine Him to be – we remain stuck in our fear and our own imagining of Who He is based on our experiences.  And the sad thing is, those experiences come not from God, but from evil and sin in this world, which we then transfer onto God as if it belongs to Him.  Some people, even after tasting the goodness of God in some way, still hold onto their fear and deny themselves the wonderful peace and love of His presence. 

From the dog’s point of view, I guess the self-protective response makes some sort of sense – but from the broader view - from our more truth-based point of view - the dog’s behavior is sad, and we feel the loss that he is bringing upon himself, simply by his own choosing.  We feel the longing to give him the love he so desperately needs, the one thing that would heal him and his hurts.  We hurt for him as we see him cower and flee, knowing what he is denying himself by choosing to believe his own fear.  In not knowing who we are or how we will be with him, he loses – there is no gain at all – and we can see that, and hurt for his loss.

What are you choosing in your relationship with God?  Which viewpoint will you take as your own? The dog’s or the owner’s?

The Gospel of Insufficiency

Did you know that the truth of God; in other words, the “gospel” as preached by Paul (“1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” – I Cor. 15:1-4); is insufficient?

Wait…how can that be? Paul tells us that by this gospel we are saved, and is of first importance. But, is it enough?

Not according to some elements in current theology! Let’s look at some examples and really examine what the “church” is saying when these beliefs are preached:

1) Selling God
According to what is generally termed “Prosperity theology” the reason we should believe in God is that, if we do, He will prosper us. We will receive stuff in abundance – money, things we want, bigger and better houses, cars, boats, and the list goes on. This prospering concept is generally described as God “blessing” us because of our “faith.” Now, unfortunately, this type of theology is being exported to other countries as an “enticement” to bring people in poverty to belief in Jesus Christ. So we are to believe in Jesus because we get cash back bonuses at the end of the month.

2) Bullying for God
Even though Scripture teaches us “do not fear,” fear is being used as a weapon to coerce people into accepting Jesus Christ. Halloween substitutes that are designed to threaten participants with images of hell in order to scare them into salvation, yelling sign carriers on street corners and college campuses asking people if they are ready to die, hellfire and brimstone preachers finger-pointing from the pulpit about what horrible sinners all are, and other examples of manipulation through fear fail to bring people into true relationship with Jesus. We are warned that we better get it right or we are toast. Who would want to receive a sweet hug and spend their free time hanging out with this kind of “god”?

3) Redesigning God
The gospel is boring. It must compete with MTV and Facebook. Plus, the attention span of our current population is getting shorter and shorter. Obviously, it is time to give God a good makeover. Everyone loves a good reality TV show, right? “Extreme Makeover: God Edition” – the latest spectacle of the mega-church – attempts to spiff God up through entertainment to make Him more appealing to a vapid, disinterested populace. Worship services are reminiscent of vaudeville shows or rock concerts, hoping to entice people to sit still – or simply to show up. “I’ll come, but I expect to be fed,” is the attitude of the passive recipients. However, my question is: is my relationship with God really a passive endeavor? Is it all about what is in it for me?

These three examples are intended to demonstrate how the “church” in some arenas has bought into the lie belief that the truth of God is insufficient. Rather than transforming the culture in which we live, we are being transformed by the culture, mimicking it in order to be acceptable.  I wonder why we no longer believe the gospel in and of itself is “good news”?

Perhaps we have so convoluted and perverted the truth of God that we no longer “see” its wonder, majesty and glory. Maybe that is why we think God needs sprinkles added on top to make His love worth receiving.

What it means to be healed

In Matthew 9, the author places stories of Jesus healing the sick and demon-possessed alongside the questioning and challenges of the religious leaders in order to make two important and related points: 1) Jesus Christ brings a new way of relationship with God, and 2) changing the inner man is more important than external appearances. Read Matthew 9 from the perspective of the broader themes of this series of stories:

“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The Calling of Matthew
9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
14Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
15Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.
Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute
27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
The Workers Are Few
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Two key verses are pivotal to the meaning presented here. The first is Jesus’ quote of Hosea 6:6. The second is Jesus’ presentation of the parable of the old wineskins and new wine. Let’s look first at the meaning of Hosea 6:6, which Jesus indicated was important to comprehend, as He instructed the Pharisees to “go and learn what this means.” The complete verse (Hosea 6:6) is:
“6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
In order to best understand these words, let’s look at other times the same verse is quoted or the same meaning is captured in other Scripture. Jesus quoted the same Hosea verse in Matthew 12:
“ 1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Similar teaching is found in Psalm 40:
“4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods. [a](falsehoods)
5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced [b] , [c](opened) ;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.
7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll. [d] (with a scroll written for me)
8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."
And again in Psalm 51:
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are [c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

In each of these examples, Scripture is pointing to the primacy of inner transformation over actions or external elements. If this is the case, why does Jesus then heal the physical bodies of those in the Matthew 9 stories?

I do not believe these verses are about physical healing as it stands alone. As indicated in Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Matt. 9:4-8, Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sins, but so they would know He had that authority, He demonstrated that authority by healing the body. In other words, someone Who has authority over sin to proclaim forgiveness also has authority over the consequences of sin. Since it was through sin that sickness and death came into the world (not an individual’s sin causing sickness, but instead understanding that the presence of sin in the world brought death and decay to all things), Jesus demonstrates He can remove the consequences of sin. However, the most important thing, and Jesus’ initial focus prior to the Pharisees’ challenge, was on forgiving the man’s sin – on healing his inner self, transforming his heart and soul rather than his body. It is a truth that this man eventually died. His physical body was destined to decay, because of the presence of sin in the world. But Jesus, not focused on the temporal and external, offered the visible evidence of His authority to give the Pharisees (who were focused on the external) the opportunity to be transformed as well. Sadly, their hardened hearts did not receive what He offered. They remained blind, even though Jesus offered the return of their sight.

As Christians, we must be careful to not leave any false impressions about the character of God by what we say. If we were to read these verses, and focusing on the physical healings, say that an individual with enough faith will be healed, we could leave the impression with someone struggling with an illness that God is arbitrary, or even untrustworthy. We could also leave that individual in fear and doubt, feeling their faith is not strong enough or they are not worthy enough to warrant healing. However, it is the inner man that Jesus seeks to heal. It is our cleansing from sin and our freedom that He died to provide, all because of His deep love for us.

It is the internal (vs. the external) that is Jesus’ focus, while the Pharisees were consumed with appearances and externals. Along the same lines, Jesus brings a new way from the way of the Pharisees, which they would describe as the way of the Law. As Hebrews 10:1 states, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.” So what is the reality? According to the parable Jesus told in Matthew 9:16-17, there is a new reality, and this new reality cannot be “poured” into the old perception of things, or all the new “wine” will be lost.

Jesus is the “new wine” that cannot be poured into “old wineskins” lest the skins burst and all the wine (the change) pour out. Often, we try to “assimilate” God into our frame of reference or understanding of things. This is the error of the Pharisees in Matthew 9. They kept bringing up their “old way” of seeing things, of what they thought was important, and of how they related to God. Jesus’ response? God will not be assimilated. We, instead, must be “transformed” in order to accommodate for God in our hearts. We must also take care not to stay with what we know. Our “old wineskin” will not hold God within us either. It is God’s presence in us that changes us – forever – into a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthians 5:17).

Glory

I often hear Christians referring to “giving God the glory” or “doing something for God’s glory.”  What do they mean?  The “glory” of God, according to Scripture, is the light that emanates from God due to His presence.  It is not something I can create, or something that I can add to or give to God.  God’s glory comes from God; it does not come from me.  Simply put, God’s glory is being with Him and Him being with us.  Yet, the above statements seem to indicate glory means some kind of credit.  According to the original meaning of God’s glory, this is a false interpretation. 

As a result of this false interpretation, we view our interactions with God as a kind of economy, more of a business partnership than a love-based relationship.  Quid pro quo – You do for me and I praise You.  I do for You and You reward me.   I act as if I am supposed to give God “credit” for the successes in my life, but of course I view the failures as “my fault.”  This kind of economically-based interaction leaves us feeling obligated more than in love with God.  It distances us from God, because we feel like something is “owed” or “due” to Him or from Him for us.  Finally, it sets us up into a hierarchical view of relationship with God, who chose to be our servant out of love, as it states in Philippians 2:5-7 - ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

We lose that perspective very quickly in an exchange system.  It is not based on love.

Instead, God desires to be with us, and He desires for us to be with Him.  Being together simply for the sake of being together – for the pure joy of sharing each other’s presence – is love.  Whatever the circumstances, He is with us – in the successes and in the failures; in the good things and in the hard things; through the struggles and through the joys.  THIS is God’s glory.  As Philippians 4:12-13 states:  ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness, often misunderstood in a variety of ways, is an extremely important element of our relationship with Jesus. It was important enough that Jesus gave forgiveness a prominent position in teaching the disciples how to pray. It is a topic of much discussion between Jesus and His disciples, and between Jesus and the Father, even from the cross. Obviously, it is an issue we need to see with clarity and truth, one the enemy will use against us in accusation if it is unresolved, and distort into an exchange economy, permission for sin, or worse if we are not standing on solid ground.

Our starting point for understanding forgiveness is to understand completely in our hearts what all we have been forgiven. This statement is a version of “remove the log from your own eye before you try to pluck the splinter from your brother’s eye,” but is presented from the perspective of being forgiving because we have been forgiven much. The parable of the unmerciful servant illustrates this idea very clearly (Matthew 18: 21-35, NIV):
‘21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

We don’t necessarily like the ending of this story, but it is a warning from Jesus. Who are our “jailers”? I would say we are “bound” by our sins and the sins of others when we are unforgiving, so let’s say sins are jailers for us. Then in this parable, Jesus is warning us that we will be tortured by our sins and the sins of others until we can repay the debt owed – which, of course, we can never do, as is true for both the unmerciful servant and his fellow servant, since while in “jail” we cannot work off the debt. So what does this warning mean? Jesus is teaching us that when we do not forgive others, as we are already forgiven, we leave ourselves in bondage to the sins of the other person. This is an important idea, so let me repeat it: unforgiveness attaches us to the sin of the other person in such a way that we carry the burden (“tortured” by the “jailers”) of the other’s sin as if it is our own. It is a horrible burden to bear, to carry the weight of another’s sin. Forgiving others sets me free. I release the other into the hands of Jesus, and allow Him to deal with their sin. It is a question of who “owns” the problem of their sin: will I carry it, or do I allow them to own it and deal with it with Jesus?

You will notice in the parable that the original debt of the unmerciful servant was forgiven by the master completely as a gift of mercy, and the master was not involved in the transaction between the unmerciful servant and his fellow servant at all – until that fellow’s debt was called due and he was imprisoned. In the same way, forgiving sin against me is not something done between the sinner and me; it is something accomplished between God and me. The sinner is not involved in the transaction, because it is not the actions of the sinner that matter here in meriting forgiveness; it is instead the actions of Jesus that matter. See how in the parable the master is angered not because of the debt but because of the lack of mercy? He specifically mentions how he had mercy on the original servant. This is the case with us. Having received the greatness of the mercy of Jesus for all of our sins, do we truly understand the depth of His forgiveness if we are holding others accountable to pay for their debts to us? Can they pay those debts? In truth, Jesus is the only one Who can pay for those debts. In releasing those debts into Jesus’ hands, I am acknowledging this truth, and setting myself free from any bondage to the sin committed against me.

Another terrible distortion of forgiveness is the idea that forgiveness and reconciliation are the same thing. Scripture makes it clear that reconciliation of relationship requires repentance, and a working out or working through of issues between the two parties. Just before sharing the parable of the unmerciful servant, Jesus teaches this lesson on dealing with a brother who sins against you: “15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:15-18, NIV).
So we have two separate but related issues here: related from the standpoint of both issues starting with a sin against you, but one discussing reconciliation and the other discussing forgiveness; the two are not the same. In this Scripture, Jesus describes dealing with a problem face to face with a brother, and winning the brother over by sharing your feelings directly with him. Jesus then provides a process to walk through to reach reconciliation if reconciliation is possible. Following this lesson is when Peter asks how often a brother should be forgiven. As is often the case, Peter is making the same mistake we do – confusing the reconciliation process with forgiveness. Jesus tells the parable of the unmerciful servant to make it clear that forgiveness is accomplished not through relationship with the sinner or debtor, but through relationship with Jesus, while reconciliation is accomplished through interaction with the brother who sins against you.

One of the most damaging distortions of forgiveness is the belief that forgiveness is the same as acceptance or excusing a sin. In other words, we are led to believe that when we forgive we excuse the sin committed against us as acceptable. This is absolutely not the case and is a lie from the pit of hell. Jesus never stated that any sin was acceptable. In fact, He stated quite the opposite: “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Imagine the pain in the heart of an abused child, if he or she believed in order to forgive his or her abuser, he or she must excuse the actions of abuse from the parent. This would be the same as saying the feelings of that child do not matter! Jesus would never say that. I have seen Him weep as He held a child being abused; weeping at the pain the child was suffering, weeping at the pain in the abuser, but emphatically not excusing the sin. Forgiveness is not the same thing as acceptance. Sin has no excuse.   Forgiving a sin is handing that sin to Jesus, and letting His be the one to deal with the individual who sinned against you.  The purpose is to set you free from their sin, not to excuse their sin against you.

Jesus’ forgiveness is simply the grace and mercy offered through the blood of Jesus, that He would pay our debt. As Paul asks, “1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1-11, NIV).
Forgiveness sets us free from the sins of others against us, so that we can truly live the new life of freedom and peace offered – and paid for – by Jesus.

Hope

It is quite easy to look at the present circumstances in our own lives, in our country and in the world, and feel hopeless. Questions like, “Can things ever change?” and “Will it ever get better?” are natural.

I want to emphasize my choice of the word, “natural,” meaning “of the world” or “worldly.”

I was talking with Jesus about hopelessness, and He had quite a few things to say about the feeling. His first statement was that hopelessness is like a black, bubbling river that flows in our hearts. Sometimes it flows above ground where we can see it, and sometimes it flows underground, hidden from our consciousness, but whether we are aware of it or not, hopelessness undermines our foundation. If it flows on our hearts, it erodes the ground on which we stand.

He brought to mind His conversation with His disciples prior to entering Jerusalem. Fearing what was going to happen to Jesus in Jerusalem, and succumbing to hopelessness and despair, the disciples begged Jesus not to go into Jerusalem. Contrast their response with Jesus, Who knowing full well exactly what would happen to Him in Jerusalem, still willingly rode as a victor into the city. Nothing undermined His foundation, and He kept His assurance and certainty that He was walking the right path.

Next, Jesus told me that hopelessness has to do with observing or experiencing the (accurate) hopelessness in the world without Him, and extending that hopelessness to include everything, as if He is not involved in our lives. In other words, when we agree with hopelessness, we agree with a belief that states God is not a partner with us in the working out of His will. Hopelessness assumes He is not present, He is not alive, He is not with us, He is not for us, and He is not involved. He then asked a very poignant question: If things are hopeless, why pray? Prayer, He said, comes from hope. And, He reiterated, hope does not disappoint. Romans 5:5 states it this way: “5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Some people may choose not to be transformed by Christ, and certainly the actions of those people in the world, as well as the intentions of the enemy of God, bear consequences in the world – sometimes consequences for those of us who have been transformed by Christ. But Jesus is not an uninvolved bystander. He is the Redeemer. Redemption means saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. It also means the recovery of something mortgaged (in our case, our lives are mortgaged due to sin – sometimes our own, sometimes the sin of others). As our Redeemer, He restores what has been lost. He will intervene on our behalf, for our sakes.

Jesus continued the conversation by saying hopelessness can come when we put our hopes in something else besides Him. We may hope in people in our lives, but they will disappoint us, even if they love us and we love them. We may hope in some particular circumstance working out, but it may or may not work in our favor or as we want – not something to rely on as a support for hope in our hearts. We may hope in those in authority over us, but as human beings they will surely fail. Our hope is in Him and in Him alone. Isaiah 49:23 states: “Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

If you look at your circumstances and feel hopeless, look instead at Jesus. If you see the failings of those around you and despair, focus instead on the never-failing love of Jesus. If you notice your own sin, and how you fall short in many ways, and feel hopeless to ever change, go to Jesus in prayer and let His truth transform you. If you observe our nation and the world around us spiraling ever farther down into the abyss and you fear for the future and feel powerless to do anything to stop the decline, turn to Jesus. Listen to His encouragement. Put your hope in His promises and His presence. Let your prayers for yourself, for those you love, and for the nation and the world, flow out of your hope in Him. He and He alone is our hope!