Think for a few moments about the goodness and kindness of God toward you. Do you deserve it? Is it something that’s owed you? Are your thoughts, your deeds, your words so selfless, so holy, so loving and accepting that God is merely doing to you as you have done to others? Most likely the answer is No. And herein is a crucial point. When we realize how much God has forgiven us, when we realize that God loves us despite what we are and what we have done, then we truly can understand
what it means to be kind and loving to those who don’t deserve our kindness or our love. How important, then, that we keep the Cross and what it means to us, individually, before us at all times.
What things has God forgiven you for over the years? How should that realization help you treat those who have done things to hurt you?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Why Jesus Had to Die
by Ginger Ketting-Welller
From the April 2009 Signs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a child, I was enchanted by postage stamps. I would watch my mother write a letter to her mother, fold it, put it in an envelope, lick the back of the colorful little piece of paper, and then stick it in the upper right-hand corner of the envelope. The stamp, she explained, would ensure that the letter got all the way to Grandma’s house. I begged to lick the stamp, and at times Mama would let me. But she also noticed that I longed to lick more stamps than were needed. Seeing the inevitable misbehavior beginning to loom, she warned me: “If you lick and stick stamps where they don’t belong, you’ll get a spanking.”
I did. And she did.
There are in this world some rules that can’t be broken. Some laws come with consequences that are guaranteed to happen, every time. If you jump off the 54th floor of a tall building, you’ll die. If you dive into the ocean and stay under the water, you’ll soon drown. If you drink lots of alcohol, you’ll kill off some of your brain cells.
Genesis tells the story of our first human parents in Paradise. God warned Adam and Eve that if they sinned, they would “ ‘surely die’ ” (Genesis 2:17). It’s one of those unchanging laws of the universe that provide the order and structure of our world. People through the ages have known it to be true: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Or to say it briefly, “You sin, you die.”
You may not like the concept; neither did I like the concept that if I licked a bunch of stamps and stuck them on Mama’s desktop in pretty designs, I would get a spanking. But not liking the rule or the consequence doesn’t change it. A spanking was the consequence of disobedience to my mother. Death is the consequence of disobedience to God’s law.
As in my behavior with the stamps, Adam and Even did not resist the lure of disobedience. They sinned in eating fruit that God had told them to avoid. And just as surely as jumping off a tall building brings death, their sin brought with it the consequence of separation from God, which brings death.
If God had not thought ahead, He would have been in a very difficult spot. According to the Genesis Creation story, He deeply loved the people He had created. Now they had made precisely the choice against which He had warned them. The consequence was sure. He would lose these two beloved, rebellious children of His—for eternity.
God’s Plan
But the biblical story implies that God had a plan in place before He ever created human beings. Adam and Eve were not immediately struck dead. The God who keeps His own laws is also full of amazing grace. So God provided another way. The result of their disobedience was death. But God said, “I will take the consequence for them. I will pay the price.”
What a strange idea that the God of the entire universe would offer to die for the sake of a couple of rebellious humans and their pitiful offspring, whose characters would be warped and disfigured by generation after generation of debilitating sin. We can’t understand it. It may not even seem like a sensible solution to us.
Some might ask, Why didn’t God just change the rules? As C. S. Lewis thought about it, he observed that there was no point in punishing an innocent Person; on the other hand, it makes sense that a debt should be paid. But how could an innocent Person take on the punishment for the guilty? To some people, God’s solution doesn’t make sense. It seems impossible.
But as created beings, how can we presume to judge God’s way of saving us from sin and reconciling us to Himself? He is the Creator, and we are the created. We must remember that the laws of the universe are a direct revelation of God’s character. He cannot undo universal law without breaking His integrity.
While we may not be able to understand God’s plan, we can see that He has tried to tell us over and over about His solution for our sin—that God would come to earth in human form, take our sins upon Himself, and pay the death penalty for us so that we would no longer have to suffer that consequence. God would cover our sins with His perfection.
Announcing the Plan
God tried to tell our first parents about His plan in cryptic words spoken to the serpent after Adam and Eve sinned: “ ‘And I will put enmity / between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and hers; / he will crush your head, / and you will strike his heel’ ” (Genesis 3:15).
God tried to tell Abraham in His calling for the sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac, and then providing an alternate sacrifice in the form of a ram (Genesis 22).
God tried to tell the Israelites through a system in which their sins were confessed over the head of an animal, which was then sacrificed as an atonement for their sins (Leviticus 4). He conveyed the message through song, as the psalmist David wrote lyrics that precisely described the sorrows of Jesus (Psalm 22).
God tried to tell the people in Jesus’ time when John the Baptist exclaimed, “ ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:29). God’s plan was ironically clear in the comment of Caiaphas as he and others plotted the death of Jesus: “ ‘It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’ ” (John 11:50).
Jesus completes the plan
The plan to atone for the sin of humans became clearer and clearer through the centuries to the people who worshiped the one true God, but it was never more clear than it was on that terrible day when an innocent Man, Jesus, cried out on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34, KJV). Jesus, the God-man, knew the horror of sin in this world better than any human has ever known it. He saw how it had obscured the character of God, and He took on the terrible price of death that we should have paid as a consequence of our sin. We see little glimpses of His understanding in His reactions, yet only Jesus has experienced the true awfulness of what it means to bear the ultimate consequences of human rebellion, because He chose to atone for our sins in our place.
What if, when I stuck the stamps all over my mother’s desk, my brother had approached my mother and said, “I know my sister deserves a spanking for this, but I want you to spank me instead of her”? What would have been the dynamics of that situation?
First of all, I would have been shocked and disbelieving that my brother would choose to take my penalty. Second, my heart would be broken as I saw him pay for my disobedience, knowing I deserved the punishment. Third, assuming that spanking was not a verdict for any of my other misdemeanors, only my brother would know what it really meant to be spanked. I would have a little idea as I witnessed his atonement for my sin, but I wouldn’t really comprehend his pain or the love for me that motivated his offer. And finally, I would never, ever choose to stick stamps on my mom’s desk again!
We take too lightly the price that Jesus paid for us. The story and images are so common in our mind’s eye that very few of us experience the shock, sorrow, and repentance we should naturally feel, knowing that Jesus took our punishment on Himself.
Is your heart broken as you read the story of His anguish at facing death and separation from the love that is God? Do you have any sense after contemplating that story of what it meant for God to pour Himself into human form and take on the consequences that were rightfully yours? What demonstration of God’s love would be stronger in inviting you to accept His transforming grace in re-creating your own life and character?
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23–26).
by Ginger Ketting-Welller
From the April 2009 Signs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a child, I was enchanted by postage stamps. I would watch my mother write a letter to her mother, fold it, put it in an envelope, lick the back of the colorful little piece of paper, and then stick it in the upper right-hand corner of the envelope. The stamp, she explained, would ensure that the letter got all the way to Grandma’s house. I begged to lick the stamp, and at times Mama would let me. But she also noticed that I longed to lick more stamps than were needed. Seeing the inevitable misbehavior beginning to loom, she warned me: “If you lick and stick stamps where they don’t belong, you’ll get a spanking.”
I did. And she did.
There are in this world some rules that can’t be broken. Some laws come with consequences that are guaranteed to happen, every time. If you jump off the 54th floor of a tall building, you’ll die. If you dive into the ocean and stay under the water, you’ll soon drown. If you drink lots of alcohol, you’ll kill off some of your brain cells.
Genesis tells the story of our first human parents in Paradise. God warned Adam and Eve that if they sinned, they would “ ‘surely die’ ” (Genesis 2:17). It’s one of those unchanging laws of the universe that provide the order and structure of our world. People through the ages have known it to be true: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Or to say it briefly, “You sin, you die.”
You may not like the concept; neither did I like the concept that if I licked a bunch of stamps and stuck them on Mama’s desktop in pretty designs, I would get a spanking. But not liking the rule or the consequence doesn’t change it. A spanking was the consequence of disobedience to my mother. Death is the consequence of disobedience to God’s law.
As in my behavior with the stamps, Adam and Even did not resist the lure of disobedience. They sinned in eating fruit that God had told them to avoid. And just as surely as jumping off a tall building brings death, their sin brought with it the consequence of separation from God, which brings death.
If God had not thought ahead, He would have been in a very difficult spot. According to the Genesis Creation story, He deeply loved the people He had created. Now they had made precisely the choice against which He had warned them. The consequence was sure. He would lose these two beloved, rebellious children of His—for eternity.
God’s Plan
But the biblical story implies that God had a plan in place before He ever created human beings. Adam and Eve were not immediately struck dead. The God who keeps His own laws is also full of amazing grace. So God provided another way. The result of their disobedience was death. But God said, “I will take the consequence for them. I will pay the price.”
What a strange idea that the God of the entire universe would offer to die for the sake of a couple of rebellious humans and their pitiful offspring, whose characters would be warped and disfigured by generation after generation of debilitating sin. We can’t understand it. It may not even seem like a sensible solution to us.
Some might ask, Why didn’t God just change the rules? As C. S. Lewis thought about it, he observed that there was no point in punishing an innocent Person; on the other hand, it makes sense that a debt should be paid. But how could an innocent Person take on the punishment for the guilty? To some people, God’s solution doesn’t make sense. It seems impossible.
But as created beings, how can we presume to judge God’s way of saving us from sin and reconciling us to Himself? He is the Creator, and we are the created. We must remember that the laws of the universe are a direct revelation of God’s character. He cannot undo universal law without breaking His integrity.
While we may not be able to understand God’s plan, we can see that He has tried to tell us over and over about His solution for our sin—that God would come to earth in human form, take our sins upon Himself, and pay the death penalty for us so that we would no longer have to suffer that consequence. God would cover our sins with His perfection.
Announcing the Plan
God tried to tell our first parents about His plan in cryptic words spoken to the serpent after Adam and Eve sinned: “ ‘And I will put enmity / between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and hers; / he will crush your head, / and you will strike his heel’ ” (Genesis 3:15).
God tried to tell Abraham in His calling for the sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac, and then providing an alternate sacrifice in the form of a ram (Genesis 22).
God tried to tell the Israelites through a system in which their sins were confessed over the head of an animal, which was then sacrificed as an atonement for their sins (Leviticus 4). He conveyed the message through song, as the psalmist David wrote lyrics that precisely described the sorrows of Jesus (Psalm 22).
God tried to tell the people in Jesus’ time when John the Baptist exclaimed, “ ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:29). God’s plan was ironically clear in the comment of Caiaphas as he and others plotted the death of Jesus: “ ‘It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’ ” (John 11:50).
Jesus completes the plan
The plan to atone for the sin of humans became clearer and clearer through the centuries to the people who worshiped the one true God, but it was never more clear than it was on that terrible day when an innocent Man, Jesus, cried out on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34, KJV). Jesus, the God-man, knew the horror of sin in this world better than any human has ever known it. He saw how it had obscured the character of God, and He took on the terrible price of death that we should have paid as a consequence of our sin. We see little glimpses of His understanding in His reactions, yet only Jesus has experienced the true awfulness of what it means to bear the ultimate consequences of human rebellion, because He chose to atone for our sins in our place.
What if, when I stuck the stamps all over my mother’s desk, my brother had approached my mother and said, “I know my sister deserves a spanking for this, but I want you to spank me instead of her”? What would have been the dynamics of that situation?
First of all, I would have been shocked and disbelieving that my brother would choose to take my penalty. Second, my heart would be broken as I saw him pay for my disobedience, knowing I deserved the punishment. Third, assuming that spanking was not a verdict for any of my other misdemeanors, only my brother would know what it really meant to be spanked. I would have a little idea as I witnessed his atonement for my sin, but I wouldn’t really comprehend his pain or the love for me that motivated his offer. And finally, I would never, ever choose to stick stamps on my mom’s desk again!
We take too lightly the price that Jesus paid for us. The story and images are so common in our mind’s eye that very few of us experience the shock, sorrow, and repentance we should naturally feel, knowing that Jesus took our punishment on Himself.
Is your heart broken as you read the story of His anguish at facing death and separation from the love that is God? Do you have any sense after contemplating that story of what it meant for God to pour Himself into human form and take on the consequences that were rightfully yours? What demonstration of God’s love would be stronger in inviting you to accept His transforming grace in re-creating your own life and character?
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23–26).
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Five Ways to Deal With Guilt
I don’t know why I lied. There was no reason for it. I just did. And a year later my conscience was still beating me up. The guilt felt like a noose around my neck.
It started on the way home from summer camp when I was 12 years old. I discovered, on the bus, that I was a dollar short on the money my parents had given me to spend at camp. I knew they’d ask me if I’d spent it all, so I looked everywhere for that dollar. Alas! It was nowhere to be found.
Sure enough, after a hug-filled reunion with my parents, my mom asked whether I had spent all the money they had given me. I panicked. I didn’t want to confess that I had lost part of it. Fear of punishment blurred my judgment, and before I knew what I was doing, I heard the word Yes coming from my mouth.
I had lied to my mother! However bad it was to lose money, I had just compounded the crime by lying about it. In my family, lying was the ultimate crime. You might get by with other sins, but you never lied! As the weeks and months went by, the guilt got heavier and heavier. Though my parents were blissfully unaware of my deceit, my secret sin was stealing my joy.
Guilt. How do we deal with it? Allow me to suggest five ways.
1 Distinguish between true and false guilt.
Both the Lord and the devil use guilt. That’s right. The difference is in how they use it.
When God uses guilt, it’s for the purpose of conviction—to persuade us of the wrongness of our actions so we will come to Him for forgiveness and cleansing. The Holy Spirit is the One who does this work of conviction. Describing the Spirit’s role, Jesus said, “ ‘When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment’ ” (John 16:8).
At first, this may sound negative. But remember, the Holy Spirit is also called the Comforter. He doesn’t expose our guilt to drive us to despair. Rather, “ ‘he will guide you into all truth’ ” (John 16:13). He helps to move us to where we can see our need of God—the God who “ ‘did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’ ” (John 3:17).
Satan, on the other hand, uses guilt as a sledgehammer of condemnation. He is “the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). He intends to make us feel cut off from Christ and to convince us that we don’t deserve forgiveness.
Here’s how to tell if you’re experiencing true or false guilt. If you’ve actually done something wrong, you feel your relationship with God has suffered a blow, and you want to restore that relationship soon, that’s the Holy Spirit convicting you— showing you the truth.
If, on the other hand, you feel too unworthy to come to Christ and that you might as well give up, that’s the Accuser using false guilt to bring condemnation.
Christ brings conviction; Satan brings condemnation.
2 Make it right with God.
King David knew that his sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11) was first of all a sin against God. He prayed, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). He made no attempt to sugarcoat what he’d done. He confessed the sin and asked God for mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing.
The surest way to deal with guilt is to go to God and honestly confess what you have done. We have God’s word that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
3 Make it right with the offended party.
If your sin is against another person, the next step is to seek forgiveness from that person. According to Jesus, making things right with an offended brother or sister is even more important than worship! (See Matthew 5:23, 24.)
I remember one day when I was in a foul mood and snapped at my wife. The moment I did, I knew I was wrong and needed to apologize. But it was so hard to admit that I had been acting like a jerk! My pride was taking a beating (a good thing!), and I wrestled with my guilt. Finally, I went to my bride and confessed that I had been a jerk (no news to her!) and that I was sorry for snapping at her. “Please forgive me,” I said, feeling very ashamed and very exposed. Instantly, the tension between us dissolved, and she eagerly accepted my apology. Our relationship was restored, and my guilt evaporated.
When you hurt someone, confess it and make a sincere apology as quickly as possible. Don’t let resentments fester unresolved. “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26), continues to be good advice.
4 If possible, make restitution.
If you can repair the damage your action caused, do it. Restitution may mean making good on missed alimony payments or replacing items that you’ve lost, damaged, or stolen.
Damaged emotions are harder to deal with. How, for instance, do you make restitution for the emotional wounds you may have inflicted on a child or spouse by psychological or physical abuse? Only God can heal the resulting scars on the soul. In extreme situations, for example, after making things right with God and the person or persons you’ve hurt, offering to cover the cost of professional help may be the next best thing to making restitution.
5 Repent, release, and rejoice.
Repentance is more than just feeling sorry you’ve sinned. It’s a deliberate choice to change your actions. Literally, it means to “turn around” and go in another direction. The Bible says, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer” (Ephesians 4:28). True repentance is sorrow followed by a change of mind, heart, and actions.
Once you’ve repented of your sin and confessed it, release the guilt to God. He says that He casts our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), so don’t go deep-sea diving for them! Accept God’s forgiveness and don’t look back.
One other thing: I finally confessed to my mom that I’d lied about the spending money. No punishment could be worse than the daily torment my guilt was giving me. My mom hugged me close and told me how happy she was that I’d told the truth.
Forgiveness! Instant relief! Goodbye to guilt!
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!
It started on the way home from summer camp when I was 12 years old. I discovered, on the bus, that I was a dollar short on the money my parents had given me to spend at camp. I knew they’d ask me if I’d spent it all, so I looked everywhere for that dollar. Alas! It was nowhere to be found.
Sure enough, after a hug-filled reunion with my parents, my mom asked whether I had spent all the money they had given me. I panicked. I didn’t want to confess that I had lost part of it. Fear of punishment blurred my judgment, and before I knew what I was doing, I heard the word Yes coming from my mouth.
I had lied to my mother! However bad it was to lose money, I had just compounded the crime by lying about it. In my family, lying was the ultimate crime. You might get by with other sins, but you never lied! As the weeks and months went by, the guilt got heavier and heavier. Though my parents were blissfully unaware of my deceit, my secret sin was stealing my joy.
Guilt. How do we deal with it? Allow me to suggest five ways.
1 Distinguish between true and false guilt.
Both the Lord and the devil use guilt. That’s right. The difference is in how they use it.
When God uses guilt, it’s for the purpose of conviction—to persuade us of the wrongness of our actions so we will come to Him for forgiveness and cleansing. The Holy Spirit is the One who does this work of conviction. Describing the Spirit’s role, Jesus said, “ ‘When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment’ ” (John 16:8).
At first, this may sound negative. But remember, the Holy Spirit is also called the Comforter. He doesn’t expose our guilt to drive us to despair. Rather, “ ‘he will guide you into all truth’ ” (John 16:13). He helps to move us to where we can see our need of God—the God who “ ‘did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’ ” (John 3:17).
Satan, on the other hand, uses guilt as a sledgehammer of condemnation. He is “the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). He intends to make us feel cut off from Christ and to convince us that we don’t deserve forgiveness.
Here’s how to tell if you’re experiencing true or false guilt. If you’ve actually done something wrong, you feel your relationship with God has suffered a blow, and you want to restore that relationship soon, that’s the Holy Spirit convicting you— showing you the truth.
If, on the other hand, you feel too unworthy to come to Christ and that you might as well give up, that’s the Accuser using false guilt to bring condemnation.
Christ brings conviction; Satan brings condemnation.
2 Make it right with God.
King David knew that his sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11) was first of all a sin against God. He prayed, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). He made no attempt to sugarcoat what he’d done. He confessed the sin and asked God for mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing.
The surest way to deal with guilt is to go to God and honestly confess what you have done. We have God’s word that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
3 Make it right with the offended party.
If your sin is against another person, the next step is to seek forgiveness from that person. According to Jesus, making things right with an offended brother or sister is even more important than worship! (See Matthew 5:23, 24.)
I remember one day when I was in a foul mood and snapped at my wife. The moment I did, I knew I was wrong and needed to apologize. But it was so hard to admit that I had been acting like a jerk! My pride was taking a beating (a good thing!), and I wrestled with my guilt. Finally, I went to my bride and confessed that I had been a jerk (no news to her!) and that I was sorry for snapping at her. “Please forgive me,” I said, feeling very ashamed and very exposed. Instantly, the tension between us dissolved, and she eagerly accepted my apology. Our relationship was restored, and my guilt evaporated.
When you hurt someone, confess it and make a sincere apology as quickly as possible. Don’t let resentments fester unresolved. “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26), continues to be good advice.
4 If possible, make restitution.
If you can repair the damage your action caused, do it. Restitution may mean making good on missed alimony payments or replacing items that you’ve lost, damaged, or stolen.
Damaged emotions are harder to deal with. How, for instance, do you make restitution for the emotional wounds you may have inflicted on a child or spouse by psychological or physical abuse? Only God can heal the resulting scars on the soul. In extreme situations, for example, after making things right with God and the person or persons you’ve hurt, offering to cover the cost of professional help may be the next best thing to making restitution.
5 Repent, release, and rejoice.
Repentance is more than just feeling sorry you’ve sinned. It’s a deliberate choice to change your actions. Literally, it means to “turn around” and go in another direction. The Bible says, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer” (Ephesians 4:28). True repentance is sorrow followed by a change of mind, heart, and actions.
Once you’ve repented of your sin and confessed it, release the guilt to God. He says that He casts our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), so don’t go deep-sea diving for them! Accept God’s forgiveness and don’t look back.
One other thing: I finally confessed to my mom that I’d lied about the spending money. No punishment could be worse than the daily torment my guilt was giving me. My mom hugged me close and told me how happy she was that I’d told the truth.
Forgiveness! Instant relief! Goodbye to guilt!
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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