God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Since we are nearing the Fourth of July and family get togethers are imminant- albeit with social distancing- I’d like to talk to you about forgiveness –  a tough subject for every human being.

Forgiveness goes counter to our culture which says “pay them back” or “No one is going to have the upper hand on me!” Or “She did that so I am going to make her life miserable!” Or acting in a  passive aggressive way any time you are with someone you don’t like.

God brought me face to face about 12 years ago, with the fact that I needed to forgive a boat load of people for the predicament I found myself in. I had encountered three loud and clear hints from the Lord in one week. Anytime the Lord uses several different means to get His point across- don’t take it as a random coincidence- search your heart and ask the Lord what He is trying to tell you.

The first hint I received about forgiveness was through Scripture. I have read the Bible every morning for the past 17 years and during this period of time, whenever I randomly opened my bible, my eyes would fall upon a verse of Scripture that spoke about forgiveness. Since this happened more than one time, I started to take the hint.

My second clue that forgiveness was something that I should take seriously was when I tuned into YouTube to listen to a favorite online Pastor- his message that particular week was on forgiveness.

The last clue I had to finally convince me, was when I went to my local church that Sunday morning.  The message was – you guessed it- about forgiveness! By this time in my life, I had read many passages of Scripture pertaining to forgiveness but I never thought I would be required to forgive the terrible series of events I endured. I thought I was justified in my unforgiveness.

“But if you do not forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will not forgive you.”(Mat 6:15)

This verse is a double edged sword. If you cannot find it within yourself to give up your anger at another human being, you simply cannot know what you are missing from the Lord. When we read the Bible we learn that unforgiveness will remove us from God’s conditional blessings and God’s constant peace and protection. If we pick and choose what teachings we will obey – our prayer life will be less powerful and we will not be able to enter God’s Kingdom on earth. The Kingdom of God, which has been started here on earth, belongs to followers of the Word of God. It is depicted in the bible as a narrow gate leading to constant peace, protection and blessings from God and it requires that we obey His teachings whether we like them or not.

There is nothing we have done that will ever take God’s love away from us- but we can remove ourselves from feeling His love and we can miss out on all the conditional blessings that followers of the Lord receive.

There is a law discussed in the Bible called the Law of the Harvest which reveals that everything we do to others will come back to us: the good, the bad and the ugly!

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”(Gal 6:7 NIV)

If we want kindness we need to show kindness. If we want to be financially sound we need to help others who have financial needs and tithe our income to our church.  If we want to be a success we must first give time, attention and help to our children-setting aside our desires- so that they can be successful. If we want further blessings we must be thankful to the Lord for the blessings God has already given us and follow His teachings.

God’s ways are simple, self explanatory and give us control. Those who feel out of control in their life can take back control at any moment. All we need to do is start giving away what we want- it is truly that simple. It will take time- just like it takes time to see an oak tree emerge after the acorn was planted- but it will emerge.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”(Gal 6:9)

I can say from personal experience, that forgiveness is a gift to ourselves. The burden is lifted from our shoulders and we have given it to God. God can’t avenge us if we have chosen to hold on to unforgiveness.  Let God take care of all that concerns you and enjoy the life you have right now.

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”(Romans 12:17-21)

Food for thought,

Lisa