Words of Truth

I like to do my jogging on the country roads behind my subdivision.  It’s quiet, there are no bad smells, and I usually get to see interesting things like flowers, dead snakes, interesting litter, and everything around me growing. As I was jogging this morning, I remembered how some days in high school I had to walk to school.  It was a 3 mile walk.  Yes, I know, ha ha, uphill, both ways.  One day as I was walking to school, someone drove past me and threw a half eaten sandwich at me, and it struck. It hurt a little (even a sandwich hurts when it hits you at 40mph).  I remember I never did find out who did it, but I do forgive them.  Today I thought about the question: when someone harms us, what is our reaction?

The Bible says that there will be two groups of people in eternity:  those who are saved and living with God, and those who are unsaved, and suffering in Hell without God.   Every person that trusts Christ as Savior will be saved from hell, and forgiven by God for every sin they have ever committed.  How can we look at someone whom God has forgiven and say, “I do not forgive you.”  So it seems pretty clear that we should forgive believers for anything they do to us.

But what about unbelievers? They are not forgiven by God, so should we forgive them? The answer is yes.  God offers them forgiveness, they simply reject it, that is why they are unforgiven.  But what about justice, you say. That man stole my (fill in the blank)! Consider this:  an unbeliever, at the end of their life, will receive the worst kind of justice imaginable, and will endure that judgment for the rest of eternity.  What greater punishment could there be? Do not worry that justice will not be done.

Jesus said, ““For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:14-15).  This seems pretty clear that the attitude of a true Christian is one of forgiveness to those who harm us, whether believer or unbeliever.

Forgiveness ultimately reveals the character of the person who gives it, rather than the person who receives it. If you do not forgive those who have wronged you, you become a bitter person who holds grudges. We are supposed to become more and more like Christ as we walk on His road.  He forgave those who crucified Him:  how can we not forgive those who wrong us?

A friend of mine on Facebook (Hi, Shirley!) told me today that I need to be thankful for everything God has done for me.  I started to type a response to her, but it got too long, so I have turned it into a post.  Here’s my answer, Shirley:

It’s not that I’m not thankful for everything I have.  I have said many times that Christ has saved me, and if He does nothing else for me on earth, that would be more than I deserve.  However, I have been dealing with debt my whole adult life. It seems like just when we are starting to get back on our feet and make some progress, something always happens to shove us back in the hole.

Examples:
2009: We made the commitment to cancel extra things we didn’t need like Colts tickets, television, etc….then the economy went south and we kept falling behind financially.  We finally managed to claw our way out of that one in 2010, and our air conditioner broke, my engine in my car died, etc. etc.  We got caught up in November, but things started happening again.

In February I sold my car so we could catch up on bills (and I could buy a more efficient car). I got sicker than I’ve been in a long time and had to miss two weeks of work.  We fell behind to where we are $2000 behind on our bills, and I still don’t have a car. Kim’s family s getting sick of driving us places when I have to work (and giving me rides to work). I have signed up to work every overtime opportunity I can this month so we can try to catch up.  Then our air conditioner breaks again ($500).  Then I get called off for last night’s OT shift (which I am thankful for the opportunity to be home, but it is still lost money).  Now we are looking at the real possibility that we may not get to go to family camp next month.

Forgive me if I sound ungrateful, but I keep wondering when the next thing is going to hit to push me back into the hole, and when God is going to say, “OK, he’s had enough.”  I’m trying everything I know how to get ahead, but nothing is working.  I am serviing Him faithfully and trusting in Him to provide. Our basic needs are met, but the calls keep coming from people who want their money.

I remind myself that Joseph was in Pharaoh’s prison for years before God got him out of there.  Abraham waited 25 years before Isaac was born.  The nation of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years before God sent Moses to deliver them.

I see Christians around me doing amazing things because they have the money to do it.  I do not envy them their riches.  I do not want to be rich, I only want to be debt free.  If I were debt free, I would make enough money (WITHOUT OVERTIME) to pay all of our bills, send our kids to Colonial, AND take family vacations.  But I have debts, so our trip to Washington DC goes to Bank of America.  Our tution money for the girls this school year went to pay the student loans.  As Yul Brynner would say, “Etcetera, etcetera, and so forth.”

And so I keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I keep praying and trusting God that He knows what is best, and that He will continue to provide for our  needs.  Who knows, maybe Christ will return this month. Then all this is moot.