Tag: forgive
Maturity Is Worth It
Many people face situations that, to them, seem insurmountable. What they are facing is beyond them and their ability to solve.
Yet I often see people facing problems that I can see the potential in them to solve or overcome. They just haven’t come to maturity yet. I can see that when they mature they could solve the problem easily. But they can’t seem to see that for themselves.
When an area of weakness, immaturity or ineptness comes to light in someone’s life there are various responses:
Some are hopeless. They see the problem and give up before even trying to mature. They don’t believe they could ever change for the better.
Some are condemned. They just see themselves as guilty and rejected so, again, they don’t try.
Some are challenged. They see their weakness and have a self-will that says, ‘I don’t accept that! I can change that.’ These people move into action to bring about change within themselves.
Some just forgive themselves. They see that they have a weakness, but decide to just accept that they are that way instead of changing for the better. Sometimes, we forgive ourselves too much which causes us to be deaf to the pleas for us to mature.
I want to encourage you to see that coming to maturity in various areas of your life is worth the effort. When you mature, it diminishes the size of problems in how you see them.
So my encouragement to you today is simple:
Grow Up!
Processing Your Morning Thoughts
Last night before I went to sleep I sat down with my laptop and spent some time journaling, talking to God. I write down what I want to say to him, then I listen to hear what he wants to say to me. I write it down so that I can read it, discern it, keep a record of it, let it strengthen me, encourage me and comfort me. So last night was really sweet; the Lord was speaking some pretty neat things and personal approval and affirmation. I felt so good about my relationship with Him. So I went to sleep peaceful, happy, very contented. It’s easy to sleep good after all that.
When I woke up this morning my first thought was unsure, I wondered, ‘How am I doing?’ I was presented with an opportunity to pursue getting out of condemnation. ‘I must be guilty about something!???’ But then I remembered that God is not mad at me. I remembered where we left off last night.
I remembered.
Condemning thoughts are not from God. He may convict you about something He wants to teach you and have you change in behavior or direction. But he won’t tell you you’re no good, hopeless or helpless. He won’t put you in a mental state of being unaccepted. He is a gatherer. He wants to gather people close to Himself. He wants to cleanse them of all guilt so there is nothing hindering a free flowing relationship. He loves you.
He wants you close to Him.
So when you wake up in the morning get control of your thoughts. Stay convinced of the fact that God actually likes you. He wants you close to Him. He wants you to know that Jesus’ forgiveness of your sins is all you need to come close to Him without any guilt.
We’ve got to learn to relax in this state of being forgiven and accepted by God and let ourselves get to know Him.
This has been His desire from the start.
So when you wake up in the morning choose your thoughts wisely. Let them tend toward peace, acceptance, forgiveness and union with God. He’s not mad at you. He loves you. Have a good day with Him.
Vengeance And The Jaded Heart
I’ve been concerned lately about the battle heating up between mostly young African American men and police officers. I’ve seen several videos posted online of police brutality. Videos of young African American men walking around and somehow getting into an altercation with the police and within moments the young man is dead. It hurts me to see it. What were those police officers thinking? Why such brute force when it seemed from footage leading up to the altercation the man seemed out of touch or “lost” in some way? This is so grievous.
On the other hand, my son is a police officer and I’ve seen him post pictures of young police officers who took a bullet and never got to go home again to their families. Police officers who daily and voluntarily walk into the line of fire to help the community and maintain peace. This also is grievous.
I hear the rhetoric from each side, swear words and foul language that they use to relieve the pressure on the inside of them caused by these grievous situations. These words they use to label each other are vengeance.
There’s a storehouse in each of us. A storehouse of unforgiveness and offense. When that storehouse get’s full, Watch Out! It’s got to come out. It’s full of frustration, anger, bitterness, hatred, resentment, etc.
We’ve got to judge what’s right and wrong as best we can. It’s a built in human mechanism. When we see injustice we have to categorize that event in our memories as injustice.
But when we move to vengeance we’re in trouble. All the weight of justice does not rest on your shoulders. If you are a young African American man on the street who’s seen injustice from the police officers, you have a responsibility to work toward justice but you cannot carry the weight of vengeance.
If you are a police officer who has lost a comrade to the actions of an African American man on the streets, you may have the weight of justice vested in you as you wear that badge but you don’t have to carry the weight of vengeance.
Both sides please keep your hearts clean. Please, work for justice but take up no vengeance. I see that when that storehouse of offense fills up it could be the weight that tips the delicate balance on the trigger finger on either side. That my friend would just bring more injustice.
A jaded heart is just an offended heart that becomes increasingly inaccurate in its judgments with each additional offense.
For me the best remedy is in the old adage, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay. says the Lord.”
We can work for justice, but let’s leave the vengeance in His hands.
Joseph Barlow 